"Hot off her nail-biting third-round win, we're live with the Smiling Sweetheart from Sentinel; Moka Chino!" that unbearable voice beamed through the Holoscreen above the coffee stand. Caspian inched forward in line, to feel like the gridlock of Sentinel Stadium's concourse was moving anywhere. "Just one more match stands between you and fifty thousand lien, Moka! How are you feeling?"
"Feeling good, Mari!" she beamed. She took a second to catch her breath and tuck a sweat-soaked curl back into her hair. "Tired, and I'll probably be sore tomorrow, but feeling good!"
"Good, good. The semifinals are picking back up tomorrow, which means Lazula will be competing. Are you planning to watch her match?"
"Maybe!" Moka answered. Her eyes didn't join in her sheepish giggle. Caspain had seen her laugh enough to know how they should have squinted, where the little wrinkles to the sides of her eyes always set. They only narrowed in an imitation of laughter. "Honestly, watching her might psych me out a bit. I might take a day off."
"Well, you've definitely earned it." A sly smile spread beneath Mari's lipstick. "Any hot dates lined up? The tournament's bringing a whole lotta options into town!"
"Nope! None planned, at least."
Mari slinked closer. "Are you seeing anyone?"
"Uh, no?"
"Really, a girl like you? Do you at least have your eye on anyone?"
Caspian stopped poking at his Holoband for a second, though his eyes didn't leave it. He listened just a little harder.
"Not at the moment, nope!"
He inched forward in line.
Mari addressed the camera. "You heard it here, boys! She's single– and looking!" back to the faunus with a twitching tail. "And she has an open weekend after this, I'm guessing?"
Another feigned laugh. "I might be in the mood if I win."
"So when does the magic happen? First date? Second?" Mari pressed. "I've heard you have quite the reputation."
"My mom is watching!"
"Sorry, mom!" Mari forced out a laugh, and Moka tried her best to share it. "Speaking of your mom, how's she doing? Any updates to share?"
"Still recovering!" Moka said. "We're taking it day-by-day, but I know whenever I'm down here, she's watching me." Her smile finally looked genuine. "I think that helps me fight a little bit harder. Love you, mom."
"So sweet!" Mari beamed. "Well, I'm sure she's rooting for you. And I am too!"
Caspian watched from the same skybox as back in June, as dots of color jolted all over the crowd to the beat of the music. Every now and then the light would catch a poster in the audience. The cameras noticed, too, and a few flashed up on the Holoscreens above. A couple were simple- "Go Moka," "Not so Indomitable." And on one that drew a rumble of laughter, a heroic-looking cartoon of Moka knocked cartoon Lazula's teeth out. The artist took a bit of creative liberty with Lazula's already pronounced nose.
It all felt eerily similar to the championship round of the Vytal Tournament. Enough so his eyes flicked up to a winged silhouette against the cold twilight sky. Just a seagull. He found strange comfort in Lilly fidgeting two seats to his left. He wasn't the only one on edge. Maybe she also felt it was a little too familiar. Or maybe it was the match itself. She and Moka were becoming surprisingly good friends. And Lilly's feelings toward Lazula weren't exactly a secret.
A blast from below, and Caspian jolted halfway out of his seat. Just confetti.
"Now entering, for the championship round of Vale's first Pyrrha Nikos Tournament, Moka Chino!"
Cheer exploded into the stadium, echoing off the two-hundred foot walls and crashing into Lazula's tunnel. Moka walked out, a step faster than the practiced pace. Smiling, waving to the audience, but subdued. Focused.
"And on the other side, a force of nature in the tournament world, Lazula Skye!"
A puff of blue and gold confetti was her cue. As she exited– head forward, eyes forward, shoulders squared– the cheer turned into something else. Lower, droning. Trying to work its way under her armor and rattle at her core. But she wouldn't let it. She'd been made the perfect heel for Moka's "everyday hero." She took no cruel pleasure in the circumstances, but she didn't intend to lose again. Ever.
The two faced each other under their ethereal portraits. Moka's smile and Lazula's scowl broadcast to millions, but the faunus wasn't smiling now. As the countdown ticked she closed her eyes. Cracked her neck to both sides. And took a deep breath behind the fists she raised. All went quiet. Quiet enough for Lazula to hear the scrape of Impetus from its sheath.
The match began.
Moka closed in fast. Lazula only had time for a couple steps forward before the lightning sparking off the faunus's legs exploded at her heels, and she shot ahead like a bullet. They'd fought before. Moka had to know better. Lazula raised her shield, and prepared to make quick work of the championship.
Moka's boots screeched. Sparks fizzled out around them as she pulled her punch an inch from Aegis. A blacklight flashed from the pulled punch and Lazula's shield flung over her shoulder, forced back by artificial gravity. A forearm encased in ice caught Impetus's reply, and the true punch, boosted by semblance and flame, crashed into the side of her chin.
The follow up hurt just as much, snapping her head the opposite direction. She smelled her hair burning. What hit next must've been Moka's boot, though it caught her chest from above. She wasn't sure which way was up, but thought she was falling. Aegis caught her as she landed and she tumbled backward over it, vision straightening just in time to see another fist.
It would have to be a quick match. She always hated fighting dust, and Moka had a type for each knuckle. One to throw her off balance, shift her weapons out of place. One to stun her. One to block and mess up her footwork. And one that hurt like hell.
Lazula lowered her stance, set her feet, and took the force of a Beringel's fist. Duck down. Right foot behind left, rise and turn, strike. The ice Moka raised to block Impetus shattered into diamond dust under the stadium lights, and a wild rush of energy burst forth. The ground shook, wind ripped through Lazula's hair and a hundred feet away, the hard-light barrier protecting Moka's fans lit up and creaked behind the distorted air.
Moka's tail flapped wildly, in time with the scarf that still held snug around her neck. Brown sparks crackled across the arms held forward, toward a pair of bolts on the floor that glowed to match a knuckle on each hand.
Against the resounding force that shook the stadium, Moka stood.
She disengaged the gravity bolts in favor of lightning, and flung them at Lazula as she made the ground back up. Each coursed deeper into the arm holding Aegis, thousands of burning pins and needles making movement damn near impossible. She shifted her entire body behind her shield and into Moka's hook, then back around to leave an opening for two swings from Impetus. One caught Moka's shoulder and down her chest, the other glanced off her arm and got swatted away.
Something didn't feel right. Her eyes darted away from her opponent to inspect the tip of her blade, and saw the culprit– a chunk of ice disturbing its perfect balance. Moka was coming too quickly. She'd have to use it for now. She blocked another pair of punches with Aegis and lashed out. She over-corrected, making it easy for Moka to duck beneath and lunge again. She took the force of Moka's strike into her shield and guided it to her feet, launching herself back twenty paces and buying herself enough time to run Impetus between the grooves atop Aegis and free her weapon.
She risked another glance, this one to the screen above. Moka had already taken a surprising chunk of her aura, leaving her at 85%. Moka's sat a bit lower. She had a bit more than the average huntsman, but nothing extreme. Her 82% would fall a lot faster.
Rowan leaned across Snow, pulling Caspian's attention from the fight. "Damn. Considering it's Lazula, Moka's putting up a pretty good fight."
Caspian realized how tightly his fingers wrung each other, and let them free. He rubbed the sweat on his knees. He didn't particularly care to see his sister lose. He just wanted more than anything for Moka to win.
"Uh, y-yeah."
Between them, Snow ran through the statistics. The fight simulated in her mind, over and over. She decided not to inform them of the projected outcome.
Lazula and Moka took a single breath of pause before closing in on each other once more.
Aegis swallowed a punch, and Lazula let it free through Impetus. Moka ducked aside. Her jab whistled past Lazula's head as she did the same. She punched Moka's arm away with Aegis, made time for one swing to land before two more slashed air. Moka wagered a chunk of aura to catch the last, send a current of lightning dust down the blade, and launch an elbow into Lazula's temple. Her vision spun out again, but she still felt Impetus in her grasp. She lashed out, and a shriek and full second of heavy resistance told her it landed, hard.
But with each fist and elbow Lazula took, the audience roared. She felt less like a huntress, more like a bull locked in a fight to the death with a matador. Or a lion in a colosseum. A beast, a monster, to be slaughtered. She wondered if even Lilly was among those who cheered when Moka's heel crashed into the side of her head, and when a patch of ice shook her balance straight into a right hook.
She composed herself, and Aegis was ready for the next blow. But it didn't come. Moka pulled her hit again, and raised arms framed her adamant glare. She floated between the balls of her feet, lurching forward every few seconds. Feints. All of them. But Lazula might as well play along.
She committed Aegis into one of Moka's fists, and saw it close around the shield's spire. Lightning coursed through her fingers, and again those pins and needles tore through Lazula's arm. Her other still worked, as did the legs that stepped toward the faunus to thrust Impetus into her gut. She gave up on the uppercut aimed for Lazula's chin, opting to nudge the blade aside with her elbow.
It shot back up, straight into Lazula's nose. She didn't see it fast enough to dodge– but did fast enough to capitalize on her own mistake. She inhaled the force behind the strike and let it free through Aegis, smashing through waves of aura across Moka's head and shoulder. Thirty percent, gone in one blow. Moka staggered. But wiped her lip and pretended it had glanced off her. By the time Lazula's follow-ups arrived she was set in her stance, deftly ducking and weaving around each until a sudden reversal finally caught her side.
She wouldn't let it slow her down. She swiped away the flat of Lazula's blade and whirled around in a torrent of flame but Lazula blocked her and scored another hit down her back. Two more hits, maybe one big one, and Moka would be out. The faunus sprung backward onto her hands, beneath a horizontal slash that would have ended the match. Then onto her feet. Moka punched the air between them five times, and with each Lazula felt the ping of a gravity bolt sticking to its face.
With one last left jab, Aegis's sudden weight pinned Lazula's arm to the floor. The stadium erupted as Moka twirled in the air, and her flying kick took a full fifteen percent of Lazula's aura.
She abandoned her shield, facing Moka with only her blade in hand.
The faunus shot toward her. Lazula ducked beneath her fist, and spun Impetus toward her stomach. Ice shattered between them, and as Lazula reversed her blade Moka caught it with the remains of her shield and kicked her back. She lost her balance for a second on a patch of ice Moka must have placed during the trade, but caught it in time to raise Impetus flat against another roundhouse. Air rippled around the first slash of response, but Moka dodged beneath, and beside the second. She rocked back onto one foot and kicked Lazula's third strike into the ground, narrowly missing the gravity bolt that would have bound Impetus's tip in place.
As lightning encased Moka's fists Lazula went on a full defensive, ducking away from the paralyzing strikes. One, two, three-four-five. Six. Moka left little time between punches to offer a reply. When Lazula attempted one, she would duck away. They were locked in that stalemate for surprisingly long– half a minute, maybe more. Until Lazula ducked under a jab, and slashed just under Moka's arm.
She was just above the duel-ending range. Lazula could tell she knew, from that furious desperation in her eyes as she clutched Impetus's crossguard and delivered a full course of lightning into it. The current was strong enough to pass through her arm, down a leg. She couldn't move away from the semblance-boosted kick, and she was flung backward into the floor and a wall of cheer.
Moka flung herself, boot-first. But in her desperation, she left a crucial two-inch gap between her knee and her fist. Lazula whirled Impetus around as she rose to her feet, and felt her blade tear across Moka's ribs.
The faunus crashed behind her, and the buzzer screamed out across the stadium.
"With that hit, it's over! Lazula Skye has won the Nikos Tournament Championship!"
That low, droning sound again, from thousands braying their disapproval. She knew more did in Port Cyrreine. Across Vale. Maybe across Remnant. She sheathed Impetus, and plucked her shield from the ground. As she lifted it, the inert gravity bolts lost their hold, and clinked across the floor. She turned to face Moka, because she'd at least offer a handshake. She put up a good fight, after all. She took almost half her aura. Unheard of, discounting Sterling.
Moka came as fast as her feet could carry her, fist cocked back like all the times she'd attacked before.
Lazula raised her shield out of instinct, cocking it sideways at the last instant to let Moka fly past. Her momentum carried her ten, fifteen feet past. She stumbled, almost fell before turning back. Whistles, buzzers, flashing lights, all desperately tried to stop the match– along with a dozen officials and androids closing in on the arena.
Moka tried again. All below her waist, and working up to her chest and arms, were the last sparks of her semblance, sputtering and choking like a dying engine. Five feet away it all shot into her arm, and any semblance of form had gone in favor of sheer power. Aegis raised.
No. With how little aura she had, and how fast she was coming, the bones in her hand would shatter. Her wrist wouldn't make it out in much better shape. And on a direct hit, her elbow wouldn't either.
Lazula lowered Aegis and stepped aside. She tried to look away, but her eyes landed on a Holoscreen. She watched Moka slam into the ground, bounce, and flip onto her side all in a haze of brown aura. The officials slowed their advance, and gathered around her.
Lazula thought she heard someone choking. Then a sharp gasp for breath. Through the small crowd that gathered around Moka, above the murmur the audience had fallen into, she heard Moka sobbing into the cold floor.
Circular pulses, like the first drops of rain on a still puddle, spread across the Holoshield between her and the audience. Food, drinks, stained paper wrappers, all thrown from the bleachers, burnt off on the screen. Beyond them, Lazula watched spectators draining from the stands.
Caspian stood and joined them out.
A mile away, on the Westernmost point of Port Cyrreine, an airship landed at the apex of Frontline Premier Medical Center.
Mrs. Chino's pale fingers wrung her sheets, and she leaned toward the Holoscreen at the foot of her bed. Her eyes didn't dare blink, fixed on her daughter's match. That Skye girl– the strongest in the League, according to Moka– just struck with force that looked impossible for a single human. But Moka stood, her knit scarf rippling behind her. Mrs. Chino's heart monitor began to beep faster.
Two synthetic tones, and the click of her door handle.
Her favorite nurse's voice accompanied the swoosh of a door sliding open. "Mrs. Chino! You have a visitor!"
Moka's mother remained intent on the match. "Huh? But Moka's–"
A shrill, agonized squawk cut her off.
Instinct snapped her head aside. A bald woman, lipstick and mascara as black as the jacket she wore pulled a velvet-soaked dagger from the falling nurse's back. Behind her, a doctor and a nurse rushed past the doorframe. Four steps behind them, a Beowolf. It pounced. The doctor's screams stopped, and the nurses grew louder.
She grinned, and with each step blood dribbled from the tip of her blade. The monitor beeped fast, began to flash scarlet as she crawled to the furthest edge of her bed. Her petrified eyes darted between the bloodied dagger, the python's tail stirring in excitement, to the screen. The heart rate monitor fell silent as Python slashed through a cord.
Oblivious, Moka slammed an elbow into the side of Lazula's head.
"Hello, Mrs. Chino," Python greeted. "I'm an old friend of your daughter's. It's so nice to meet you!"