Chapter 17: Desperate Measures

"The guys are seriously out." Andy announced to the fighters in the minor league locker room. "Due to the accident an hour ago, they are in the hospital. They're not going to die, but they'll be out of the competition."

"Like, sorry dude. That can happen in the Glitz pit sometimes." King K shrugged.

"I think I'm done fighting. I'm going to head out and investigate the missing fighters again." Andy sadly walked away from the room.

"Andy killjoy!" Cleftor called out.

"Man, lay off." King K scolded. "Andy's having a real bad day."

"Tough. Fighters better heartless." Cleftor said.

"Excuse me, please check on our egg." Double D said, placing his bag gently on a bench. "I must head for the bathroom."

"Okay." Nazz replied, opening his bag and holding the little egg in her hands.

Double D walked into the bathroom. He looked himself in the mirror.

'That was too convenient to have been a pyrotechnics accident.' he thought. Just then, the lights in the bathroom went off.

"Why can't this place afford to change a light bulb?" He could barely see a lantern hanging from the ceiling as well as some matches on the sink.

"That's how they plan to light this room?" He asked aloud and reached for the matches before henoticed they were soaking wet.

"Great." He sighed. "Now how am I supposed to light a lantern without fire- AHHHHH!"

His hand suddenly caught fire. He panicked and quickly drenched it into the bathroom sink. He lifted it out and saw his hand was fine.

'What? What's going on with all the fire? Wait! Am I doing this' He thought suddenly. 'It seems to occur every time I said "fire". I'll just check.'

He felt foolish to do so, but he tried out his theory anyway.

"Fire."

His hand caught fire again, and he drenched it in the sink again.

"Why is my hand only lighting? Oh, when I was in the fight, I was pointing to the opposing team before I said "fire". Maybe if I just…" Double D looked to the lantern and pointed to it. In a whisper, he spoke: "Fire."

The lantern lit with a very small light.

Double D waved his hand to try to put it out, but the second he did it vanished.

"Okay, so it vanishes when my hands wave. Maybe a different amplitude of voice will make it stronger."

"Fire." He spoke, instead of whispered. It lit again, glowing brighter than before. He waved his hand to dismiss the fire. "Hm… I wonder if there's anything else that effects the fire? Perhaps emotion?"

"Fire." He said in the same voice, only this time thinking about his quest, and his determination to fulfill it.

The lantern lit again, this time even quicker and stronger. Now he could smell the smoke coming from it.

He waved his hand to dismiss the flames.

'Alright, I have determined how this fire thing works. But how did I get this ability? How long have I had it? Oh no!' He thought with realization. "I put three innocent fighters in the hospital! What have I done?"

Here he was, a boy who hated violence, yet he just seriously hurt people. "Even if it was an accident, It was still my fault. I have to take responsibility for it. I only wish I knew how I came to receive this fire ability."

"Hey Double D!" Nazz's voice called to him from inside the locker room.

"Yes?" He asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

"C'mon! I reserved a match! We have, like three minutes to prepare!"

"Coming!" Double D opened the door to the brighter room, and almost had to shield his eyes from the light change. After a moment, he regained sight and spoke to Nazz. "Who are we against?"

"Ranking 13 in the line. It's a team called the Mind-Bogglers. Our new rule was to avoid jumping." Nazz said.

"Mind-Bogglers. Hm… I'll bet anything that those must be from Boggly-woods." Double D mused. "Rolf will probably do best here."

Rolf nodded.

"Hey bub, time for the match." A security guard said as he walked in.

"Right. Team, let's go!"

"What about the egg?" Jimmy asked.

"I'll see this little guy." King K offered.

"Okay but be careful with it. I want it to hatch, not see it on a stove." Double D said.

"Promise! Now get out there and show them what you got!" King K held the little egg as team Eduardo left with the guard.

"Okay!" King K said to the egg. "See this dude? That's Master Crash. That's Cleftor, and if Bandy Andy where here, I'd introduce ya!"

"Weirdo. King K talk to Egg!" Cleftor taunted.

"Yeah. No offense BOMB, but doesn't that seem a bit odd BOMB?"

"Eh, we don't need ya!" King K shouted. "Me and Eggy here are going to see the show. Comin'?"

"Yeah, fine." Master Crash drawled.

They both walked out of the room with the egg leaving Cleftor alone.

They ran back to the foyer and through the doors just in time to watch the introducing begin.

"Cool, we made it before the BOMB match ended." Master Crash said.

"I say we grab ourselves some seats!" King K said.

They both walked over and sat down.

"Hey Eddy!" King K said as they sat.

"Hey there, King K!" Eddy said, following with a few pointing gestures.

"You know this BOMB guy?" Master Crash asked.

"He runs Eddy's Souvenir Stall down at Glitzville square. Speak of which, should you be there?"

"Nah., I put a closed sign up so I could see my friends up there."

"Team Eduardo?"

"Yep. I knew them forever. The team leader, Double D, is my best friend. We're so tight!" Eddy bragged.

"So, little buddy." King K said to the egg. "Ready to see your first battle?"

"You talk to that egg as if it BOMB has eyes." Master Crash said.

"Isn't that Double D's egg?" Eddy asked.

"He asked me to watch it for the fight." King K said.

"And now…" Grubba's change of voice on the rink caught their attention. "Time to BATTLE!"

"Okay team. It's a pale piranha leading a pider and a cloud." Double D said.

A pider was a spider-like creature.

"We can't jump, so first let's take out the pale piranha." Double D instructed.

"Right." the other three said in unison.

"I'll start!" Nazz said. She ran over and punched the creature right in the face.

"Okay. Only use your fire if you have to." Double D thought.

"Let Rolf go next!" Rolf said.

Double D nodded in agreement. Rolf ran up shouting as he approached the pale piranha. However, it countered. It suddenly bit Rolf when he got close enough.

"AHHH!" Rolf shouted.

"Whoa, nice counter move." Grubba commented on the MIC.

"Are you okay Rolf?" Jimmy asked.

"That monster. It had bitten Rolf. Pain comes to Rolf's body all over."

"It must have used some kind of poison. If it did, it's temporary, so do what you can to take it until it dissipates."

"The son of a Shepard is strong. Rolf can endure."

"Okay, we can't jump, so the cloud and pider are currently out of reach. Now if I just…" He grabbed his rod and charged at the pale piranha quickly.

He ran to land it on its head, but the pale piranha struck back with another counter, biting the rod and throwing Double D backwards.

"This guy's good at countering!" Jimmy said. "How's about this?"

He ran with his staff, this time doing another hit to the monster. But it still wasn't down.

"What!?" Double D gasped. "What do we do now?"

The pale piranha suddenly came over and bit Double D. He shrieked in pain. He fell on his knees. The dark cloud used its role to charge up for an attack. The pider began to toss rocks at the team, which were dodged by the team.

"Ohhh… the poison is starting to kick in…" Double D said.

"Rolf feels it too." Rolf said, also on his knees.

"I and Rolf will sit this turn out to defend ourselves." Double D said.

"What do we do?" Nazz asked.

'I and Rolf are down, so we lose cunning and strength. We still have style and agility on our side, but what good will that do if they can't jump?' Double D was in his thoughts again.

"Let me have a turn!" Jimmy shouted.

He ran for the pale piranha. However, before he could take the hit, the piranha attempted to bite Jimmy. He lost his opportunity to attack and instead used his staff to shield the counterattack.

"Now, let me attack this annoying plant!" Nazz ran to the pale piranha in an attempt to punch it, but her hand was bit, and she drew back.

She had been poisoned too.

The pale piranha approached Jimmy and bit him. Jimmy got down on his knees whimpering. "Ahhh. This truly stings…"

The charged-up cloud went up next. It released a lightning storm, which it all four of the team members. The piper threw even more rocks to hit them.

"This looks like it may be the end of the match for Team Eduardo!" Grubba said.

"He's right. We've run out of options… unless… fire. I think I have to. I'm going to regret this…" Double D stood up. "I'm not down yet. I still have a trick up my sleeve."

"Whoa! He's still going for it!" Grubba said in the MIC.

"Alright, now be sure not to seriously hurt them. Just scare them…" Double D thought. He fought the poison within himself and slowly got his arms upwards until he was pointing the pale piranha.

"You got something to say?" it asked.

"You just wait!" Double D said.

As he readied himself, he noticed that a small light existed on his finger. It started to glow brighter as he looked at the Mind-bogglers dead on.

"Fire!" Double D shouted.

Right in front of his finger, the light glowed brighter and brighter until it turned into a glowing ball of flames. It shot from where his pointing finger was and flew across the ring.

"What!" The pale piranha exclaimed just before the ball of fire hit it and blew up on the spot.

It created a wind that flew in all directions. Double D struggled to stay standing with the wind, holding onto his hat. He waited for a second, then waved his hand.

Just like that, it ended.

The explosion, the wind, the fire was all gone. Double D was breathing heavily as he saw the Mind Bogglers. They were not burnt, because he didn't let the fire burn that long, but where obviously weakened.

"We… loose." The pale piranha said before fainting.

Grubba looked very lost on words. He had no idea about what to say. Finally he spoke. "Team Eduardo wins!" The audience cheered, though in confusion.

Double D got to the MIC and spoke. "All, I have a few things to say. First, as you can see, I do somehow wield the power of fire. I didn't realize this until the last match. ...I accidentally lit that fire earlier."

Everyone in the arena gasped.

"But it was an accident. I had no idea it would happen."

"…fine." Grubba said. "Accidents happen, and that wasn't the first time we've seen people headed to the hospital after a match. So, what do you say, do ya forgive the kid?"

The audience was silent for a second.

"Yeah!" Eddy shouted.

"Okay, it's forgivable." King K said. Afterwards, everyone cheered.

"It's all in the past, kid. Who knew that in just one day, such events would occur. Only in GLITZVILLE! Until later, this is Grubba saying, see ya!" The crowd cheered at the final response.

During the rest of that day, Team Eduardo recovered, then went on to two more battles, until their rank rose to 11, and Team Gonzales did mostly the same until they reached 13.

Finally, night came, and they readied themselves for bed.

"Do you see me as some freak?" Double D asked openly to Mario.

"Not at all. Having some form of-a powers is normal around this dimension."

"Yeah, you really gave it to them! Just, like, be more careful with it, man!" King K added.

"Hey, has anyone seen Andy?" Koops asked.

"No, not since the fire." Jimmy said.

"Perhaps he-who-is-paranoid is still out in search for this missing people business." Rolf suggested.

"At ten?" King K asked. "Not some dude like him."

"He could be at the hospital with his team." Double D said. "We can find out tomorrow."

Everyone was getting in their beds preparing for the next day's fights. All, that is, except for Double D, who was at some strange machine.

"What are you BOMB doing?" Master Crash asked.

"This is my incubator. I'll have the Egg in here until I can get it to properly hatch."

"What do you think it will be?" Koops asked.

"No idea. This egg looks quite unusual." Double D said. He put a glass-dome cover over the egg. "Sweet dreams."

King K walked and turned off the light. Then, Double D closed his eyes and drifted into his dreams…