Hi. It's been a long time since I've updated and I want to just say, sorry!

A bit rusty, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

Grover's POV

Mr Grover Underwood.

Mr Grover Underwood.

Mr Grover Underwood, please make your way to the ring!

The announcer's words echoed in my head for what seemed like an eternity.

Did he really just call my name? No. It couldn't have been me. Must've been some other Grover Underwood.

Ha.

No way it could've been me.

MR GROVER UNDERWOOD, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE RING, NOW!

I was shaken out of my thoughts with a jump. I blinked a few times and reality seemed to come back and hit me right in the face. At this point in time, the entire stadium was booing me as my opponent stood in the middle of the ring, with a smirk – waiting for me.

I quickly walked up towards the center of the arena where the Dohyo and my opponent waited for me.

"You can do it Grover! Don't give up man!"

I turned around to see Percy giving me a thumbs up and a really, really obvious worried smile.

I gave him a weak smile, a hesitant thumbs up and continued walking towards the ring. Once I reached it, I climbed up onto the ring and immediately the world started spinning. It was on a whole different level of pressure up here.

You could literally feel the pressure from the crowd's cheering and the huge stadium spotlights shining down on us.

All eyes were on us right now and I really didn't think I was going to be able to do this.

Should I forfeit right now?

"Hey bitch!"

I turned my attention to the Hollywood-like face of the guy standing right in front of me. He had bright blue eyes and looked exactly like how you would picture a blonde haired boy with blue eyes. An air of cockiness and confidence radiated about him and he had his arms folded with a crooked smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you bitch. You look worried." He said with a smirk.

"Uh-uh-uh-um I'm ok. Well, just a little nervous I guess." I softly replied, not daring to meet eye contact.

"Well you damn right should be." He laughed. "You're facing me! Ha!"

He had a southern accent that seemed to add to that stereo-typical jock type of feel which he had going for him.

"Laaaaddddiiieeees aaanndd Gentlemen! Welcome to the first round of the final tests! Kicking off the bracket stages are Mr Grover Underwood VS Mr James Miller" The announcer exclaimed, "I'm sure everyone is on the edge of their seat waiting for the 1st match to begin."

Ummmmmmmmmmm… not particularly…

"I will now go through the rules and regulations for the sake of the first timers here" he winked with a grin, "Firstly, each match will last for a total of 5 minutes and not any longer. If the match fails to end before 5 minutes is up, it will end immediately and effectively."

The crowd cheered on and you could feel the excitement building through the arena. "Secondly, the match will end only when one of you has exited the confinements of the ring or when his/her opponent has given up or is deemed unable to continue by the referee!"

A spotlight appeared and a man dressed in black and white vertical stripes appeared out of nowhere from behind the announcer.

Where did he come from?

He wore a jet black cap which covered most of his facial features but he was definitely well built. There was a name tag on his shirt which read 'Agon'.

"Lastly, this is a friendly competition and although tensions may rise, we understand that a lot is on the line for some of you but, certain actions such as the intent to kill or seriously harm someone will not be tolerated by any of the judges or staff members." His face and voice seemed to darken as he said this, "Let me repeat this once. None. Such. Of. These. Actions. Will. Be. Tolerated. Understood?"

Both James and I nodded slowly.

"Good!" He smiled and all of a sudden, the dark and cold tone in his voice had disappeared as fast as it had appeared.

"Now! Let us begin!"

I'm so going to die. Wish I had the chance to tell my mum I loved her.

Wait. no wait I did before I left. Ok, phew! Guess it's ok for me to die then.

…

Wait. It is so not ok. I don't want to .

"Mr Miller are you ready?!" The announcer shouted.

Oh god.

"WAS BORN READY!" James snarled with a grin.

I rolled my eyes.

"Mr Underwood, are you ready?" The announcer asked.

"U-u-u-uhm…" I stammered.

"Very good!" He exclaimed as he cut me off.

"Veritas, Virtus, Libertas!" He shouted.

Someone blew a very loud trumpet and the crowd erupted into a frenzy. The fight had begun.

I peed my pants a little bit.

Percy's POV

Is this for real? Are they really making normal teenagers fight against each other in front of all these people? What are they going to do? Wrestle? Is this the WWE?

Oh god, Grover.

Poor Grover.

This isn't right… Granted I didn't really know the guy that well, but i considered him a friend and I didn't want this to happen to him. That James guy looked huge and Grover… well he looked not huge.

"Ha! Damn that James. Lucky bastard." The other 2 contestants on my right were talking to each other. "That Grover kid won't last 1 minute with him. James has a beast of a power."

Power?

The announcer had just asked if they were ready and the sound of a loud trumpet had filled the arena. There was silence at first but what followed was the deafening sound of the crowd cheering and yelling.

I watched in horror as James immediately started sprinting towards Grover straight on. Holy shit he was fast. It seemed like there was smoke coming from his hands and feet as he ran.

What was going on?

Grover's POV

James started sprinting towards me at break neck speed. He was closing the gap between us almost instantly and my eyes widened, struggling to keep up with his movement. He stopped just in front of me and it was as if he had simply appeared out of nowhere. There was simply no way I was able to keep my eyes on him at the speed he was moving. He had a huge grin on his face as he wound up for a punch aimed directly at my gut. There was a small trail of smoke following him as he ran.

Was he really that fast? What was his power?

I knew what was coming. But I couldn't see it nor could my body move fast enough to react to the punch. Closing my eyes, I grit my teeth, raising my arms on instinct to try and mitigate some of the pain that was coming, I braced myself for the pain that was about to arrive.

…

BOOMMM

There was silence for a while as the thunderous sound echoed throughout the arena.

ARGHHHH OH MY GOD!?

Someone in front of me screamed really loudly. I opened my eyes slowly and cautiously. My arms were covering my view and I lowered them slightly to take in the view in front of me. What happened? Dust and smoke covered the ring.

Finally it cleared. A hunched over silhouette appeared into view as the dust settled.

James's face was wincing and he looked like he was in a lot of pain as he held his right hand with his left. There was a small trickle of blood that was dripping from his right hand.

What was once an over confident and arrogant giant, now only an angry and upset child stood in his place. He wasn't smiling anymore.

The crowd was silent amidst a few ooos and ahhs. What followed up was completely surprising and caught me totally off guard. They started cheering for me.

Wait what?

Didn't he punch me? Why is he the one in pain?

I looked down at the area where I had heard the thunderous sound come from. To my surprise, there was a leafless, thick tree that had burst out from the ground upwardly, and sturdily covered my torso area. The exterior had slightly fragmented off and there were bits of branches, wood and splinters falling off, where I assume James had punched at.

Incredible. Did I do that?

How did I… How did I do that? Great. Now I'm stuttering in my thoughts too? Wow Grover. Just when you thought you couldn't get anymore…

"YOU BITCH! OH MY GAWD. HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME?" James screamed. His face was as red as a tomato and he looked furious as f***. "Oh god. You broke my fucking hand! YOU BROKE MY HAND YOU PRICK!"

"I'm sorry! OhmygodImsosorrypleaseforgiveme." I started rambling and stuttering all at once. I didn't react well to people screaming at me. I started pacing back unknowingly.

"You'll pay for this. You really will pay for this." He spat.

"I was going to punch you and knock you out of the ring. But now, you've really made me mad." He spewed venomously. "You'll wish you didn't do that."

"Wait! Uh-uh-uh James? J-j-j-j-james? Sir?" I stuttered. "It wasn't on purpose! I swear!"

"Shut up! You'll wish it was on purpose, you lowly dirt." He replied.

As soon as he said that he raised his left arm high up and swung it down swiftly.

His freaking left hand burst into flames.

Shit

The crowd ooed and ahhed. His entire left hand was burning and smoking. Smoke started to rise from his hand and the dancing flames illuminated half of his body while casting a shadow on his left side.

He looked up with a death stare, and grinned. He raised his left arm, and wounded it up.

Oh shi-

I started running.

OH shi- goleftgoleftgoleft!

Where I had been standing, now burst into flames as a fireball filled the air that I had previously occupied. Running for my life, I dodged and dodged incoming fireball after fireball.

"Stop! Please!" I shouted as I ducked, narrowly dodging a fireball that flew over my head. "W-w-w-wait!." I wheezed, as I ducked and jumped. "C-c-c-can't we just- T-t-talk- This- Out?"

I was getting tired and was running out of breath way too quickly. I guess willing the tree to shoot out had taken its toll on my body. I didn't think i was going to be able to keep this up. The fireballs were getting closer and closer. He was practically playing with me at this point.

"Haheheha!" He laughed maniacally. "You're dead goat face!"

Wait what? Goat face?

"Run little Goat face!" He shouted triumphantly. "Run! Hahahahaha!"

GOAT FACE?

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at him straight in the eye. "Do. Not. Call. Me. GOAT FACE!" I yelled. My hand instinctively shot out pointing at James. I imagined him tied down and captured like a Pokémon. As soon as I thought it, large roots shot out of the ground all around where James was standing, they entangled themselves around him locking him in place and preventing him from moving.

"Urghhhhhh!" He shouted, "What the hell?"

The crowd erupted into a loud frenzy of cheers! The announcer all the while, furiously commenting on the fight.

He struggled furiously to get out of the entrapment, but it wouldn't budge. The roots had hardened and were as stiff as… well wood.

Wow. How did I do that?

"Yeah, I got you!" I shouted triumphantly. "Ho-ho-how do you l-l-l-like them apples now huh?"

I felt giddy with excitement and pride. I can't believe I did that!

Wait.

I wasn't really this excited…

My world suddenly started spinning as I started seeing double of everything, and I felt my head throbbing as I struggled to keep my balance.

"I'll get you, you little prick!" James screamed, as he tried his best to loosen himself. "Arghhhh!"

Oww my head…

My vision started blackening out and I could feel my knees buckling.

Huh? No… C'mon Grover… Just a little bit longer…

I blacked out. The last image I saw was James still struggling to get out of the root entrapment.

I smirked to myself as I collapsed onto the floor.

So yeah. Pretty short. Idk how the fighting played out. Tried my best though. Let me know what you think!