"ALRIGHT THEN FOLKS, LET'S HEAR ANOTHER BIG HURRAH!"

The hurrah that rang out across the arena was definitely quite big. Over 250.000 people were here to see the greatest action the multiverse could provide, so right now they were eager to get things rolling.

"TODAY WE WILL GO THROUGH THE FIRST FOUR FIGHTS TO DETERMINE WHO GOES ON TO THE SEMIFINALS, SO AT THE END OF THE DAY OUR 8 TEAMS WILL HAVE BEEN CUT DOWN TO JUST 4! BUT THAT'S ENOUGH STALLING FROM ME - YOU KNOW THE RULES, AND SO DO I! WHAT DO YOU SAY WE GET THIS STARTED ALREADY?" Googlorp proposed.

Some people had waited a whole year to hear those words being spoken, and so the entire arena erupted yet again. It appeared that the brief introduction had been very welcomed. The blue Plasmoid cleared his equivalent of a throat while combing through his notes, even though he had a distinct feeling he wouldn't really need them. One of the first contestants had a knack for nabbing the spotlight in very loud fashion, after all.

"THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, AND THE ANNOUNCER WILL OBLIGE! WELL THEN FOLKS, LET'S SEE THEM… THE FIRST TEAM OF THE DAY!"

"Hoo! Hah! Hoo! Hah! Hoo! HAH!"

The loud rhythmic grunting had filled the blue corner's waiting room for the last 5 minutes now. One year away from the battlefield hadn't done anything to quell either Prime's or Goh'ji's fighting spirit in the slightest; even their brief warm-up was more intense than what was probably necessary. The various cracks in the wall and the broken bench was clear proof of that. Not that either of them even noticed it, even as they stopped to gather themselves before their big fight.

"Well then, it appears that we are as ready as we can be. Still, I am somewhat worried. We have sparred with each other numerous times, but we haven't ever actually fought alongside each other. Are you sure we're ready for this, Prime?" Goh'ji asked his metal partner.

Prime didn't wait even a second to laugh away the Dragonborn's worries, before putting a reassuring hand on Goh'ji's shoulder. He was more than sure.

"Don't sweat it, bud! I trust you, you trust me and neither of us will ever give anything less than everything we have. With combined strength such as ours, we'll win this faster than you can say 'Way of the Open Hand' and then some!" Prime confidently stated.

"Heh, I suppose you're right. Still, don't be too overconfident - wiser warriors than us have been defeated due to that! Let's go out there and get started then, my friend!" Goh'ji responded.

His confusion over Prime's metaphor notwithstanding - since as a Dragonborn he wasn't capable of sweating to begin with - Goh'ji was about as excited to finally begin as his rival was. Said rival had already started to bolt towards the battlefield, only briefly stopping to confirm that the Dragonborn was on the move as well. Team Full Power was on their way.

"IN TH-"

Googlorp had all these carefully crafted introductory speeches ready. When he had seen the first team that was scheduled to take the stage, he'd almost been able to feel the nerve cluster located where his heart would be sink. He'd hoped that maybe, just maybe, Goh'ji's influence would've calmed Prime down enough to at least let the Plasmoid get a sentence out. So of course the exact opposite happened.

"FROM FACING EACH OTHER ON THE BATTLEFIELD TO UNITING AGAINST EVERYTHING THROWN OUR WAY, THESE TWO WARRIORS CANNOT BE STOPPED!" Prime loudly shouted, striking a dramatic crouching pose all the while.

"WITH OUR MINDS FOCUSED AND OUR SKILLS TRAINED TO THEIR FULLEST, WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY ANY FOE BOLD ENOUGH TO FACE US!" Goh'ji continued, simply crossing his arms as opposed to his much more flashy partner.

"THE METAL RANGER AND THE SCALE-CLAD THUNDERER… WE LIVE FOR THE FIGHT, AND OUR SPIRITS IGNITE!" both announced at the same time, clearly having practised for this beforehand.

To cap off their introduction, the duo struck one last intense pose. Prime quickly went down on one knee before thrusting his straightened arms to his upper left towards the sky, with Goh'ji doing the same but mirrored - all set to a grand explosion of orange and blue behind them, created by Prime's holographic emitter.

"AHN-001 PRIME AND GOH'JI DAARDENRIAN - TEAM FULL POWER! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!"

Roughly half the audience erupted into cheers once more as the dramatic duo finished their introduction; the others joined in shortly afterwards after processing what in the nine hells they'd just witnessed. But overall, Team Full Power was received very warmly. By all except for maybe one.

"(I swear to Milil, something has it out for me)… I-I MEAN, TEAM FULL POWER MAKES AN EXPLOSIVE FIRST ENTRANCE OF THE TOURNAMENT! LAST TIME, WE SAW ITS TWO MEMBERS PUT ON A LEGENDARY PERFORMANCE; CONTESTANT GOH'JI MADE IT ALL THE WAY TO THE SEMIFINALS, WHEREAS CONTESTANT PRIME ENDED UP BECOMING THE RUNNER-UP OF THE WHOLE CONTEST! BUT NOW WHEN THEY COMBINE THEIR STRENGTHS, WHO KNOWS WHAT CAN STOP THEM! WILL THESE BLAZING BATTLERS OVERPOWER THE OPPOSITION, OR WILL THEY TASTE CRUSHING DEFEAT? ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT!" the somewhat exasperated announcer yelled.

At the same time as Team Full Power were hyping themselves up for the fight, their opponents did more or less the complete opposite. Professor Suss simply combed through his leathery spellbook in silence, as if making sure everything was still in order. Silence that he greatly appreciated. So when his Tortle teammate broke it to remind him of the situation that he was still against, the Kobold let out a vexed sigh while rolling his eyes.

"Only a few moments left before it's time. Are you sure you're really all set on this whole team-up business?" Gameron asked steadfastly.

The professor might've agreed to fight alongside him, but ever since then he'd barely said a word that wasn't related to either his magical tools or his dignity. Even now Professor Suss just brushed off his teammate with a haphazard offhand wave. Gameron just sighed as he walked right up to the professor, waving his own flipper in front of the latter's glasses-adorned snout until he'd gotten his attention.

"I'm serious. We're up against some of the best warriors this contest has to offer, so if we want to win this we need to take this seriously. YOU need to take this seriously. Don't make me repeat what I said yesterday" the Tortle sternly reminded his grumpy companion.

The professor revved up his hand as if to slap away Gameron's flipper, but it seemed that he'd gotten the message well enough to limit himself to just pushing it aside. He put his spellbook back into his coat's inner pocket, before motioning to Gameron to follow him.

"Yes yes, I'm well aware. Let's just get this matter over with" Professor Suss grumbled.

Gameron slumped his head in defeat as he followed the Kobold out towards the arena. The latter hadn't sounded convinced in the slightest - surely, they were doomed to go down in seconds.

"AND IN THE RED CORNER, TEAM ACADEMIA TAKES THE STAGE! ON ONE SIDE WE HAVE CONTESTANT GAMERON, THE TSUNAMI TAMER, WHO PREVIOUSLY WENT DOWN IN THE FIRST ROUND AFTER AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY OF MASTERY OVER EARTH AND WATER! AND ON THE OTHER WE HAVE PROFESSOR SUSS, THE TIMEBENDER, WHO… LEFT QUITE AN IMPRESSION AFTER DIVERTING HIS OPPONENT'S ATTACKS BY ALTERING THE FLOW OF TIME ITSELF! BUT BY PUTTING THEIR HEADS TOGETHER, THEY HOPE TO ADVANCE MUCH FURTHER THAN BEFORE! WILL THEIR COMBINED INTELLECT FIND A WAY TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP, OR WILL THEIR PLANS PROVE FUTILE AGAINST PURE BRAWN? LET'S FIND OUT!" Googlorp announced as cheerfully as ever.

Of course, Team Academia did consist of the Kobold who'd proven himself to be an arrogant prick and the Tortle who'd just been sorta there during the last tournament. So it wasn't really a surprise to anyone when their reception ended up lukewarm at best - among the half-hearted cheers and unimpressed stares, there were even some boos piercing the air. Something that the professor barely managed to hide his discourse for, and something that Gameron had more or less expected. At least the latter seemed to take it in stride. But although the audience was in somewhat dampened spirits, Prime and Goh'ji were anything but.

"Alright, now I'm PUMPED! Let's all make this a bout to remember, no holding back! You two ready to get going?" Prime blurted out as he pumped his fists up and down like an excited child.

Unfortunately for the robot, the Kobold on the high horse wasn't quite ready to get going. Not before he'd voiced yet another one of his latest grievances.

"Trust me, metal man. I will not spare you of any humiliation in the coming tussle, I assure you. And that goes for you as well, Dragonborn!" Professor Suss snarled, before Gameron stepped in between them with his flippers outstretched.

"Please excuse my teammate, young man. I for one will do whatever I can to keep up with you two, and I promise you that neither of us will hold back on you!" the Tortle replied as cordially as he could.

Both sides nodded in agreement, before turning around to get into position. And while Prime appeared to be in high spirits after Gameron's polite answer, the frown formed by his metal headpiece couldn't be completely hidden. Something the more patient Goh'ji picked up on.

"Don't worry, we'll give the little professor the defeat he deserves. Besides, the thought of them fighting well alongside each other isn't likely at all" the Dragonborn assured his rival.

Prime turned to his friend with a determined nod. If his faceplate could form a confident grin, it most certainly would. There was no doubt right now: Team Full Power would have fun with this.

Gameron clapped his hands to focus. Goh'ji bent down to take an offensive stance. Professor Suss twirled his staff around before planting it in the ground. Prime recalibrated his metal knuckles. Both teams were raring to kick off the first fight of the second Multiversal Tournament… and up in the announcer's booth, Googlorp was more than ready to oblige. It was high time to open the floodgates.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"ROUND 1: BEGIN!"

Two sets of grand explosions lit up the starry sky, signalling that this was it. The first round of the second tournament had finally begun.

Without wasting a second, Prime and Goh'ji charged in first. And as was their personal rule, neither was starting off seriously - Prime hadn't drawn his swords, while Goh'ji wasn't anywhere near his top speed. And judging by their trajectory, it quickly became obvious that their mutual target was the weakest link. In this case, Professor Suss. By taking him out quickly they'd only need to focus on taking down Gameron… and as a bonus, they wouldn't need to listen to the Kobold's rants any longer than necessary. However, their double punch didn't even come close to hitting their target. When you're as small and nimble as Professor Suss, avoiding such a telegraphed attack is child's play. The unprepared Tortle right behind him on the other hand…

[WHAM!]

Prime and Goh'ji had just learned an important lesson; don't punch a Tortle in the chest. Otherwise you'll just be sent comically reeling while flailing your wounded hand around like a madman. Worse, Gameron didn't appear to be much more than slightly stunned. Although it seemed like he was more baffled at the professor's willingness to let his own ally just take a hit meant for him than anything. But that could wait - the monks were wide open. The shelled wizard began to conjure up water around his flipper for his signature Hydro Blade, before quickly rearing himself back to strike Goh'ji. Which was when he heard a fairly deep voice call out from behind him.

"Get out of the way, you lumbering fool!"

Gameron only had time to turn his head around before he was struck right in the face by a bolt of concussive magic. The other two bullets from the Magic Missile had hit their intended blue-scaled target with enough force to send him reeling, but the professor's impatience had resulted in his own ally taking a hit as well. Which meant that the sudden aching jaw - and the shock that his teammate just did that - resulted in Gameron flimsily swinging his Hydro Blade towards the now fully alert Prime instead; an action that the agile construct easily avoided. With the pain in his hand shaken off and his opponent disoriented, Prime immediately went in for a solid uppercut. But unfortunately for him, the similarly recovered Goh'ji had the exact same idea.

"Wait Goh'ji look out…!"

[CRASH!]

"FOLKS, ARE WE SEEING THE SAME THING HERE? THE MATCH STARTS OUT IN THE SPIRIT OF COMPLETE SLAPSTICK! FIRST TEAM FULL POWER DAMAGES ONLY THEMSELVES WITH THEIR FIRST ATTACK, THEN CONTESTANT PROFESSOR SUSS SOCKS HIS OWN ALLY RIGHT IN THE KISSER… AND THEN CONTESTANTS PRIME AND GOH'JI BOTH FAIL TO LAND ANOTHER BLOW IN FAVOUR OF COMICALLY COLLIDING WITH EACH OTHER? I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU PEOPLE, BUT SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT ASKING THESE WARRIORS TO COOPERATE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A TALL ORDER!"

Googlorp was clearly somewhere between disappointed and amused, and the audience were right behind him. Team Academia might've been actively against teaming up to the point of accidental sabotage, but Team Full Power evened that resulting gap with complete inexperience fighting alongside an ally. With one side just one step away from getting into an argument and the other lying in a chaotic pile on the ground, it was hard to say who was more embarrassed. At least the scene had garnered some audible amusement from the crowd.

"Tortle, they are vulnerable! Stop dillydallying and push them back!" Professor Suss commanded.

Gameron almost wanted to go against the professor's order out of pure spite. After that impatient stunt he'd pulled he had no right to act bossy, but the Tortle knew as well as anyone that this opportunity was too good to pass up. So after throwing a spiteful glance towards his ally, Gameron slammed his two flippers together to cast a Gust of Wind. To desired effect - both Prime and Goh'ji were sent rolling backwards like tumbleweeds by the strong windstream. Which meant that they were left dizzy and disoriented for a second, and therefore in perfect position for a blast of Frost Fingers courtesy of Professor Suss. With his lit staff wrapped in his tail, the Kobold released 10 rays of arcane ice - one from each finger - towards the disoriented Team Full Power. And if their pained yells were any indication, it had been a solid hit.

"And that, my good sir, is how you exploit an opening. No dragging your feet, just quick and simple retribution! You could stand to learn a thing or two from watching me" Professor Suss scoffed.

"Dragging my- now look here, professor! I clearly followed your callout after YOU had already hit ME with that Magic Missile, so don't try to tell me that kind of nonsense!" the steadily more irked Gameron responded.

By now the reptilian wizards seemed to fall apart more and more by the minute. The actual fight appeared to have been all but forgotten in favour of trading barbs and complaints, with the side effect of undoing more or less their entire advantage. Team Academia's squabble had given Prime and Goh'ji more than enough time to untangle themselves and get back on their feet.

"I vote we both forget that ever happened and just focus, 'kay?" Prime whispered, clearly regretting the little incident just prior.

"I will do my best. But for now, we clearly lack the ability to fight together side by side. But listen, I have a plan" Goh'ji silently responded.

"Our teamwork isn't good at all, but theirs is much worse. They also both use almost entirely magic and fight poorly up close, so our first action should be to separate them and engage them in melee. I take the little professor, you take the slow Tortle - if we focus on one opponent each, then we won't risk another miss like that. Is that good with you?" the Dragonborn quickly continued.

As the wizard duo stopped their arguing upon realising that they were still in the middle of an actual fight, Prime unsheathed his swords while rearing forward. Without turning away, he answered his partner's proposal.

"Sounds great to me, pal. Give him a hit for me too, will ya?"

The orange automaton quickly took off towards the much slower Gameron with swords at the ready, with Goh'ji following right behind him to target the much frailer Professor Suss. As Prime reached his target first, he reared back for a quick overhead dual slash. But as his blades sliced through the air, they harmlessly bounced off of the wizard's magically coated forearms with no effect barring a flinch. A well-timed use of the Shield spell had saved Gameron from being sliced wide open.

His teammate, on the other hand, opted to avoid being hit outright instead of trying to tank the attack. So when Goh'ji came close enough to go in for a barrage of palm strikes, the Kobold nimbly avoided every single one of them. The first strike zoomed right past his head, the second one was way off to his left and the third to seventh one similarly failed to make an impact. At least until he got too arrogant for his own good by graciously leaping above a rapid tail swipe… leaving him wide open for the incoming right kick in the chest. And by the looks of his painstruck reaction, it hurt. A lot.

The kick hadn't quite been strong enough to break any bones, but it sure as all hells knocked all the air out of the professor. The otherwise so prideful and overconfident Kobold now laid coughing on the ground while clutching his battered chest, completely at the mercy of his Dragonborn opponent. But sadly for him, Goh'ji knew this. He had his foe right where he wanted him after said foe had made the whole thing so much more uncomfortable for everyone - it was enough for even the martial artist to display some petty sadism. Enough to let Professor Suss lay there in pain for a few moments. But eventually Goh'ji caught himself, and after a quick mental chiding towards himself he went in for the finishing blow in the form of an overhead tail slam. Of course, his drawing out the finisher had given help time to arrive.

Despite being locked in battle with Prime, Gameron had instinctively thrown caution to the wind to aid his teammate. The Tortle suddenly released a burst of magical fog from his mouth in order to obscure Prime's vision, and while he still took a blade in the shoulder for his troubles it worked - the robot was left blinded. With a Fog Cloud distracting his enemy, the wizard took the chance to go to his ally's aid. Why, he didn't even really know. Professor Suss was anything but a friend to him, and so far he'd only served as dead weight. Including right now. But even so, Gameron couldn't just let his own teammate go down like that. Not while he could help it. These thoughts flashed through his head during the few seconds it took him to turn around, throw himself over the professor and get hit hard by the heavy tail strike.

"SEEMS LIKE THE FIGHTERS HAVE FINALLY WARMED UP, BECAUSE NOW WE'RE ACTUALLY SEEING SOME ATTACKS LAND! AND IN A DARING MOVE, CONTESTANT GAMERON PROVES HIMSELF QUITE THE TEAM PLAYER BY PROTECTING CONTESTANT PROFESSOR SUSS FROM BEING BEATEN DOWN! LET'S JUST HOPE THAT SHELL IS AS STURDY AS IT LOOKS - A KICK LIKE THAT COULD PROBABLY SHATTER BONE! SO FAR, IT COULD BE ANYONE'S WIN!" Googlorp dramatically shouted.

Gameron could practically feel the crack in his shell - Goh'ji had to have put all his strength into that attack. But at least the professor was safe, and after that rescue he had to finally have gotten some respect for his teammate. At least, that was what Gameron thought until the Kobold frantically pushed him away.

"Get off me, you imbecile! I did not require any aid from you, so get back to your own duel already!" Professor Suss ranted.

That was it. That was the point where even Gameron had had enough.

"You… you absolute moron! I've just about had enough of your pathetic rants! You have the GUTS to blame me for saving your skin, after you yourself have been nothing but dead weight this whole match?! Look at yourself, 'professor' Suss. One kick in the chest was enough to put you down - the literal only reason you're still in the game is because of me taking all your hits! If I hadn't risked my own well-being to save you, you would've been defeated even faster than last time!" Gameron angrily asserted while pushing the professor back to the ground.

His sudden outburst ceased every other sound in the arena. The audience were silenced, Googlorp went quiet and even Team Full Power just stopped to watch. Nobody had expected the otherwise quite subdued Gameron to blow his lid, but right now nobody really cared. They all wanted to see how this played out.

"You want to know why nobody respects you? Because for all your blustering, you have never once actually done anything worthwhile! You've only shown yourself to be an arrogant moron who's never EVER been able to back up your claims! And unless you do a complete 180, you'll always be remembered as the frustrating little prick that literally nobody wants around!" the Tortle continued.

He took a deep breath as if to keep laying into the silent Professor Suss, but instead simply let out a frustrated sigh. If the latter hadn't gotten the message by now, he never would.

"Look, there's still a chance for us to win this. Those two boys are almost as bad at teamwork as we are, so we'll have to iron out that issue before they do. But we can only do that if you swallow that pride of yours and work with me properly. The way I see it, that's the only way you can hope to get that respect you obviously crave so badly" Gameron muttered.

Now all eyes were on the motionless Kobold on the ground. Goh'ji had lowered his stance while Prime had slouched to his knees, showing that neither of them were gonna attack until their opponents had sorted themselves out. Partly due to their honour as martial artists, partly because they too wanted to hear the professor's answer. And as for the professor? As usual, he was absolutely outraged at these obvious lies - even if that rage was concealed behind the utter shock of this detailed callout. Him, a professor of Chronurgy from the Harlow University of Magic and Sorcery, an arrogant fool without any respect? Absolutely ridiculous. He had plenty of admirers, like… okay then, bad example. But he was clearly a competent wizard, like in the previous tournament when he had… right. But what about when he… when he… oh.

The truth had finally caught up with the reeling Professor Suss.

"I… I have nothing to say. Other than that you're… you're right. It is difficult for me to say this, but I really have been my own greatest obstacle. I really have accomplished nothing. So for what it's worth, I am sorry about my misfires in this match. And I will do what I can to work with you as an equal. So, do you have a plan in mind… sir?" the ashamed Kobold mumbled.

Another brief moment of silence as the people around him processed exactly what Professor Suss had just said. Until it was broken by a slowly but surely rising wave of cheering - still fairly subdued, but it was there. And for once it was actually aimed at the professor. Of course most people, including the notably dumbfounded Prime and Goh'ji, remained somewhat shocked that the tiny wizard had actually admitted his faults. But at least one person was at least as delighted as he was stunned.

"I'm glad you asked, professor. As a matter of fact, I do have a couple!" the notably more upbeat Gameron answered.

As Team Academia slowed down to silently plan their next move, so did Team Full Power. They'd had multiple opportunities to end things quickly and they knew it, yet almost every attempt at securing the flow of the fight had resulted in absolute blunders. And the one strategy that had worked - splitting up and focusing on one opponent each - hadn't really done much wonders. It was high time to properly strategize a little.

"Goh'ji my friend, we're not doing very well. If this keeps up we're gonna get beaten without much of a fight at all" Prime declared while shaking his head.

With both teams huddled up with about half a battlefield between them, there was ample time to think up a new battle plan. And Goh'ji simply nodded in agreement of Prime's deduction, all the while keeping a watchful eye on their whispering opponents.

"That's true. We will need to regroup before we attack again. It's not something I would want, but I do believe we need to slow down and think more. Cover each others' weak spots, as I believe you say" Goh'ji replied.

The action might have slowed down again, but right now not many complained. Because as soon as one side had reached a plan of action, the audience knew that they were gonna be in for a treat.

"Honestly, I'm more lost than anything. I mean, Prime almost beat me in the finals while Goh'ji almost beat him beforehand - this should be an easy win for them. And now it's gone on long enough for all of… this, and for the professor of all people to fess up that he's the problem? Do you have any idea what's even happening anymore, dad?"

The contestants watching area hadn't changed much since last year. It was still the same small set of walled-off stands opposite the main viewing screen, with the same 4 rows of cheap wooden seats and the same reinforced railing between them and the arena. Allowing the fighters not currently on the battlefield to chat, plan or comment on the ongoing battle. Like what Pulse did right now.

"They're figuring out their issues" was all the spectral figure that was her father answered with.

Judging by what could be seen from Vuzrak's facial expression, it was clear that he had much more to say on the matter. Something that his status as an only partially present spirit prevented - all he could do was send very brief telepathic messages or flashes of his current emotions. Which, at least in his mind, was better than not being here at all. Regardless, the cleric had made his thoughts on Pulse's questions clear enough to understand. And as his daughter's forehead only grew wrinklier, a third figure right next to them added her own input.

"I guess everyone has some surprises in them. And don't forget about Gameron - who would've known he'd be the one to tear that Kobold down? I just hope Prime and Goh'ji can get their act together before the wizards gets too chummy, otherwise they're gonna end up with the biggest embarrassment of their lives!" Abigail stated.

The Half-Orc might've known more or less everything about her creation and a decent bit about his best friend, which also meant that she knew just how accustomed they were to fighting solo. So while their bumbling around the battlefield was somewhere between embarrassing and simply hilarious, it wasn't too surprising. Abigail just hoped that she and Ashes would be able to put up a better showing.

"You know Abby, at this point that seems that it'd be the single greatest challenge for either of them. Guess we'll have to wait and see if th-"

Pulse froze up in the middle of her sentence. Amid all the noises around the arena and the magic attacks thrown around by the wizards, the Drow felt something much different. Something piercing the very atmosphere of the subspace pocket. Something that shouldn't be there.

Something felt very very wrong.

"Pulse? Did you forget what you were gonna say?" Abigail curiously asked.

Pulse jolted as she snapped back to the present, but that feeling of dread remained. What in the nine hells was that?

"I-I just felt something… eerie. Don't you guys feel it? Like part of the atmosphere just glitched and… ceased to exist for a moment?" the shaken Drow stuttered.

Now that Pulse mentioned it, the at first confused Abigail felt something too. The Drow's description had been pretty much spot on - it was as if a spot in the sky above them had just been replaced by a vacuum. If only for a few seconds, for just like that it vanished. Like it had never been there to begin with.

"I didn't feel anything at all" Vuzrak telepathically told his daughter.

"Yeah I don't know, it could've just been a blown fuse from the main gateway or some distant cosmic event. Whatever it was, it's gone now. Besides, it doesn't look like anyone else noticed it. I don't think it's anything to dwell on, buddy" Abigail added, before turning back towards the arena.

Pulse didn't object, but her expression remained somewhat stern. The sensation had admittedly been very brief and fairly weak, but she was certain it had been there. And a phenomenon like that, where the fabric of existence just shorts out in one concentrated spot for a few seconds… it definitely wasn't something the inventor could just ignore. But given how it didn't seem like a threat at the moment, she put it at the back of her mind for now - especially since things were finally about to happen down on the battlefield. It appeared that both teams had finished their planning.

"Erupting Earth!"

Team Academia immediately put their plan into action in the form of Gameron loudly announcing the violent geyser of earth and rock spouting from beneath their foes' feet. Of course, the heaving earth and the loud callout gave them both plenty of time to react - neither one was hit by even a single boulder. But right as the huge chunks of stone reached the peak of their trajectory, one of its targets froze in place. And then he found himself quickly rewinding back underneath the now falling boulders. Professor Suss had executed his part of the plan at the perfect moment, and Goh'ji was about to feel the results. The crushing results.

[KAROOOMM!]

The boulders were only about the size of a humanoid head at their largest, but they had still fallen in great numbers from a few metres into the air right on top of Goh'ji. Which meant that the damaged Dragonborn was left pinned down, and while he made visibly great efforts to get back up it still left Prime to his own devices. But the robot had problems of his own - there was currently a sharp Ice Knife courtesy of Professor Suss heading straight in his direction. An attack which the agile Prime easily avoided by jumping to the side… right in the path of another, much larger Ice Knife from Gameron. And this time the spell hit; Prime fell to his knee as the frozen shard crumbled into pieces from where it had struck his back.

"Hnnrgh… Prime! Hold out, I'm coming!" Goh'ji groaned as he pushed the larger rocks off of him.

The martial artist was back on his feet, but while he was still in good enough condition to fight he was anything but collected. The Erupting Earth trap had beaten him down a decent bit, Prime was getting outwitted out there and a fairy referee was fluttering away from the battlefield - it seemed that Goh'ji had been pinned down long enough to almost warrant a countdown. Thus the usually reasonable Dragonborn immediately decided to let loose his most powerful weapon, without listening to reason first. The enraptured audience looked on as Goh'ji's maw began to crackle with bioelectricity - he was about to attempt to unleash his lightning breath once more. Keyword being "attempt".

"Oh no you don't, Dragonborn. Sir, get down!" Professor Suss shouted as he twirled his staff around counter-clockwise.

No blast of lightning left Goh'ji's throat as his body was surrounded by a light blue glow. The professor had once again used his mastery of chronurgy magic to rewind the Dragonborn's motions for a few moments - not enough to fully prevent the attack, but enough for Gameron to get the picture. The Tortle hurriedly motioned towards his ally to duck behind him, before retracting his head and all his limbs into his sturdy shell. Just in time too; as soon as Professor Suss had taken cover, his hold on Goh'ji ceased. Thus the arena was once more lit up by a devastating bright blue flash of sizzling lightning, the attack striking the hunkering Gameron dead-on. But despite hitting his foe with a blast strong enough to split a smaller tree in half, the draconic warrior was left with nothing but an immensely sore throat for his troubles. Gameron popped out his head from his singed shell while the weary professor stood up behind him - both shaken and the former with a few burn marks, but otherwise mostly unharmed.

"AND THE TIDES SHIFT AGAIN AS TEAM ACADEMIA SUDDENLY UNVEILS COMBO AFTER COMBO! EVEN CONTESTANT GOH'JI'S MOST DEVASTATING ATTACK AMOUNTS TO NOTHING BUT AN INCONVENIENCE - CAN TEAM FULL POWER MAKE A LAST-MINUTE COMEBACK? OR WILL LAST YEAR'S RUNNER-UPS FALL BEFORE THE TOURNAMENT CAN EVEN START TO HEAT UP? I THINK WE'LL KNOW IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF MINUTES, FOLKS!"

Of course, Gameron couldn't completely negate the blast of lightning just by taking shelter in his shell. The Tortle needed a brief moment to shake off the stiffness in his zapped limbs and regain his composure, which also gave Prime the time to safely dash over to regroup with Goh'ji. Their opponents were about as well off as they were, but right now they decisively held the advantage. And the reason why had been made clear repeatedly.

"Yeah I don't think this is working, bud. I don't think we can hold back any longer - if we wanna win this, we need to hit them with the strongest moves we have!" Prime laid out to his teammate.

"You're right, Prime. But we'll need to defeat them before they can think of a new plan, so the best thing would be to beat them at the same time. How about you knock them down in one spot, then we hit them with a simple finishing move?" Goh'ji wheezed through his sore throat.

Prime's head crest narrowed in response, before crouching down to prepare his next special move. And right before executing it, he gave a proper answer.

"Right. Let's finish this together - right here, right now!"

With those words, the robot started to fire up his limb-mounted rocket thrusters. He'd had about 6 months to perfect this move, but even now his focus on it was absolute. The fact that both his opponents were visibly preparing to counterattack with a couple spells didn't really help his metaphorical nerves either. But with another fierce scowl, Prime let it rip - it was now or never. Everyone looked on in shock and awe as the construct took off into a lightning-fast dash on the spot without any prior momentum.

"Sonic-"

Before he had even finished calling out the name of his attack, Prime had dashed right past the unprepared Gameron and behind Professor Suss. And before the Tortle even registered that he'd been slashed by the robot's twin swords right in the shoulder, Prime turned around after skidding to a halt to deliver a heavy kick in the professor's back.

"-Slicer!"

By the time the Metal Ranger had announced the entire attack name, Professor Suss was laying face-first in the dirt with an aching back. At the same time as Gameron was screaming in pain from the deep shoulder gashes dealt to him only moments beforehand. But there was no time to rest - Prime wasn't about to allow Team Academia to regroup again. He still needed to knock Gameron down.

"Metal Thunderstrike!"

The automaton lunged out with a dual palm strike straight into the lower part of Gameron's shell, causing the wounded wizard to completely lose his balance and fall down on his bum. It was about then that Goh'ji had dashed up to join in beside Prime, and given how the latter took a step back it appeared that the Dragonborn had been given the honours of knocking back the magician. So with a spinning tail slam, he sent Gameron skidding back right next to the broken professor. And now the two wizards were right in position - on their backs, with broken bones and compromising wounds. Perfect. It was high time to finish this with a bang.

"FINISHIIIING MOVE!" Prime shouted as intensely as he could.

Both members of Team Full Power crouched down next to the other, as if they were mirroring their ally. And then they took off into a massive leap straight upwards. But upon reaching the peak of their jump, the martial artists took on differing stances.

"ULTIMATE…"

Goh'ji raised his left leg as far upwards as he could, while Prime pointed his adjacent right leg sole-first towards their disoriented foes. All the while loudly exclaiming the first word of the move's name.

"DUAL…"

As the martial artists started to plummet towards their targets, Goh'ji shouted the continuation of the attack name. There were at least a few people in the crowd that noted how much of an effect Prime must've had on him; of course, the vast majority were intently focused on how the duo was currently diving feet-first towards their targets. And mere seconds later, the deadly finisher landed.

"IMPACT!"

With a loud crash, the double jump kick hit struck the dazed reptilian wizards with the force of a warhammer. They didn't even have time to react before everything went black - Professor Suss let out a shocked gasp as Goh'ji cracked his spine with the axe kick, but Gameron simply silently collapsed on his back upon having his head smashed by Prime's full-force Metal Kick. And as their foes practically fell apart, Team Full Power landed on the ground in front of them via frontflip followed by a mirrored dramatic pose. A pose which obviously was backed up by a grand explosion courtesy of Prime's holographic emitter.

There was no question about it; Team Academia were out cold. And even if they'd been conscious, there was no way they'd even be able to stand up with a broken back and smashed skull respectively. So as the approving cheers started to die down and Team Full Power dropped their poses to catch their (metaphorical in Prime's case) breaths, one of the tournament's fairy referees fluttered over to confirm the obvious.

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

"7!"

"6!"

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"K.O!"

"GAME, SET AND MATCH, PEOPLE! THE FIRST VICTORY OF THE TOURNAMENT GOES TO TEAM FULL POWER, AND WHAT A MATCH IT WAS TO GET THERE! FROM A ROCKY START TO A CHANGE OF HEART, CONCLUDING WITH A FINISHER THAT BROKE TEAM ACADEMIA APART - THAT WAS ONE HELL OF A RIDE! THE FULL-HEARTED FIGHTER AND THE CRACKLING MARTIAL ARTIST BECOMES OUR FIRST SEMIFINALISTS!"

Despite their fatigue and bruised forms, the winning team jumped around in excitement while cheering alongside the roaring crowd. Or at least Prime did; Goh'ji was satisfied with just waving and occasionally cheering back. Even though they'd finished the fight without much real effort towards the end, they'd still needed to overcome several - admittedly mostly self-inflicted - hurdles before that. This was as much of a hard-fought battle for victory as any other, and thus worth celebrating.

Amidst all the celebration, the field started to shine a very familiar pearlescent white light. The wizards could feel their consciousness returning as Gameron's skull straightened out and the professor's spine fused back together, and it only took a rough minute for both of them to stand up no worse for wear. Meanwhile the martial artists didn't have quite as much damage, but they still exhaled in relief as Goh'ji felt his cracked bones heal up and Prime noted how the gash in his back closed. And as the light faded away and the contestants were once again up and about, the losing side was the first to address each other.

"Well, ain't that a kick in the shell. I'm sorry professor, but it seems this is as far as we go. Again" Gameron lamented with a deep sigh.

At his core, the Tortle couldn't do anything but feel down. He'd gone on and on about how this time they'd had a chance to win, only to end up with the result he always knew deep down was the only one it could've ended with. Perhaps he'd never been a match for the younger generation to begin with, even with another experienced wizard beside him. However, this regret didn't last that long; said experienced wizard had some words to say.

"Utterly inconceivable! How did someone like me, a professor of chronurgy at the Harlow University of Magic and Sorcery, lose this early on to a pair of rowdy upstarts?! Something must be amiss, this cannot be accepted!" Professor Suss snarled out loud.

By now Gameron had lost all hope for the Kobold. He'd already been dead wrong about his chances to win this thing - how could he have hoped that the most irredeemable Kobold he'd ever seen would ever truly change? The Tortle thus didn't even try to shut his teammate up as the latter opened his mouth to most likely insult him yet again.

"But… you fought well, sir. If it weren't for you, I know I would've been defeated without a single opportunity to strike back. You were right about fighting side by side, sir Gameron. We simply weren't enough" the Kobold mumbled just loud enough for Gameron to hear him.

The shelled wizard could do nothing except staring in positive disbelief at his ally. Did the professor just compliment someone? Did he just accept defeat, and that it had partly been his own fault? Did he just use Gameron's name? The Tortle knew that the answer to all of these questions was yes, but he still couldn't believe it. It was enough for him to crack a smile - it appeared that he'd actually managed to do something right today. Even better was the fact that some of those roaring cheers out there were aimed at both him and the professor, if the maintained volume when they showed up on the big screen was any indication. Not to mention the professor's genuine shocked smile in the face of those cheers; whatever joy Gameron felt right now, he knew that it was nothing compared to the professor. At that moment, going down in round 1 again felt more or less worth it.

"AND WITH THAT, WE THANK TEAM ACADEMIA FOR A PERFORMANCE THAT BLEW THE MINDS OF EVERYONE IN ATTENDANCE! AND WE CONGRATULATE TEAM FULL POWER FOR A BATTLE RANGING ALL THE WAY FROM AMUSING TO AWE-INSPIRING! SO NOW THAT THEY'RE IN THE SEMIFINALS, WHO WILL THESE MIGHTY WARRIORS FACE NEXT? LET'S FIND OUT RIGHT NOW IN THE NEXT BATTLE… WHERE BOTH BODY AND MIND WILL BE PUSHED TO THEIR LIMITS! LET'S PREPARE TO WELCOME OUR NEXT SET OF TEAMS!" Googlorp boldly explained as the four contestants began to leave the field.

While Prime and Goh'ji had run off towards the blue corner's waiting room in high spirits, Gameron and Professor Suss had slowly walked off in silence. The professor was still deep in thought about everything that had transpired out there while Gameron was recovering in his own way; words were unnecessary right now. There were some brief greetings from Gameron and an acknowledging grunt from Professor Suss as they passed the team coming up right after them, but other than that the duo was content to remain quiet. At least until Professor Suss sensed something that made him stop in stunned silence.

Something felt very very wrong.

"Wait a moment, sir Gameron! Do you feel that… that horrid sensation?" the Kobold stuttered.

Gameron stopped in his tracks as well, but mostly out of confusion.

"Feel what, professor? Are you sure you're not imagining things, because I don't feel any… thing" the Tortle answered, a strong hint of fear creeping up to him as he felt it too.

Just like Pulse had done moments earlier, so did Team Academia sense the horrible presence in the atmosphere. Or rather, the lack of it. Now that they weren't focused on the battle in front of them, they both grasped what seemed like a glitch in the very fabric of existence. Whatever it was, it appeared to tear apart the very laws of arcana, physics and logic all at once in a small pocket of space before just… fading away, with no hints of ever being there to begin with. Like it did just now mere seconds after first reappearing. And for the first time in a long while, Professor Suss was clearly and visibly afraid. Both he and Gameron knew full well - whatever that phenomenon was, it was anything but good news. Right now the tournament was the last thing on their minds.

The Multiversal Tag-Team Tournament had just begun, and no matter how it ended it was sure to be a far cry from its predecessor.