Game-Changers & Grudge Matches

*Tirea dives away from the disk, then kick up to send a few arcs at the earthbender*

*They go through a couple of doors to the back of the prison, & up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Euryale eventually stops at a nondescript door, Cell 72. She puts her hand on it &, when satisfied, stomps, causing the door to open. Senthose is sitting on the bed. He appears to be meditating, but with his hands in the Pyramid of Evil Contemplation pose. He opens his eyes at the noise.*

<Oh, now, isn't this a pleasant surprise?>
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<Their Earthbender ducks & fires a quick jab at Tirea's leg. The Waterbender redoubles her efforts on Gabe with a flurry of blows, a spinning kick, & a two-handed blast. A little less than 2 minutes left in the round.>

Mortal doesn't bother to respond to him, and takes a position by the door, folding her arms.

--

Gabe jets out of the way, then uses the sideways momentum to swing a kick at the waterbender to fire an arc of flame.

*Tirea jumps, sending a blast in response*

*Euryale throws her doll into his lap, which he picks up & examines.*

"Do you want to explain what that is?"

<Looks like some kind of doll of yourself. It's filled with pins, which I can only assume is either an acupuncture demonstration or a weird sex thing.>
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<They continue dodging, the Dragons' Bending a little slower & smaller than usual. Each member retaliates with a couple of quick punches. It's still anyone's game.>

*After landing, Tirea ducks under the blows aimed at her and sends a few in return*

Astarte shrugged and started actually watching the match again, still a little unhappy.

Eduj launched a fist sized stone at each of the Purists as they tried to pick themselves up, and then slammed his palms into the ground. Once again he began lowering himself under the road and dragging the other two with him. He intended to go deeper this time.

"Quit playing dumb, Senthose," Mortal said. "We don't have time for your jokes. How did this along with a lock of hair find its way to some cult?"

--

Gabe also dodges the blasts and plants herself before launching a double fisted blast at the waterbender.

<Neither Waterbender can evade fast enough, & both go back to Zone 2. This is it, folks, the Mongoose Lizards are running out of time. If they don't score a knock-out with this next maneuver, the Dragons advance to the semifinals.>

*They take this to heart, each one letting out a trio of curved kicks, a double-fisted blast, a flip kick that sends a wave at their opponent, & another barrage of blasts while they're in the air.*

<They're leaving it all in the ring, I've never seen anything like it! The Arena looks like an artillery barrage, how will the Dragons possibly be able to dodge it all?!>
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*He mostly just annoys them. As they're working their way out of the collapsing hole, a trio of cop cars shows up.*
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<What do you mean how? You left pieces of yourselves lying all over Zolt's parking lot. All anyone had to do was pick some of it up.>

"Does this mean that you brought the Spirit to the physical world?"

<What am I going to do with a bunch of park-going children? Have them challenge the guards to a teeter-totter duel for the keys to this cell? Use your heads a little.>

Gabe puts up a wall of flame and tries to hold fast behind it, pushing against it so that it can weather the storm.

--

"I don't have time to do this," Mortal said, "If there is something you know just tell us, and save us the trouble."

Astarte watched, not realizing that she was holding her breath.

Assuming the Purists had gotten out of the hole, Eduj closed it up behind them. He tried to wake up Hector and Stefan.

*Tirea creates multiple water arcs around her to weather the storm*

<Tirea takes several strong blows, & flies majestically into the drink. Gabe's fire wall finally breaks down, & she's left literally inches from the ring. The Mongoose Lizards decide to take 1 final potshot, so Gabe uses one of her patented jets. They sputter a bit, & she takes a hit to the leg that sends her spinning into the ropes in a comical fashion, but she lasts long enough for the buzzer to save her. Night's Dancing Dragons advance to the semifinals!>

*Now comes the respective cheering & jeering. The remaining Mongoose Lizards angrily tear off their helmets & sling them over their shoulders.*
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*Roatha was sitting on the edge of his seat, & now relaxes.*

"Whew, that was close."
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*They rouse.*
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*Up above, as the cops get out of their vehicles, the Purists fire wildly at them while running away.*
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*Senthose folds his arms behind his head & lays back.*

<Well, certainly not with that attitude, I won't.>

Mortal tightens a fist and takes a step forward to grab Senthose by the collar but stops herself and takes a step back, "Real cute."

--

Gabe just rolls over until she is on her back looking up at the ceiling of the stadium, sprawled out at the edge of the ring. Once her heart stops pumping furiously, and she can once again hear the crowd over the blood rushing through her ears she closes her eyes and smiles to herself.

*Tirea swims over to Ven, assuming she is still in the water*

<You did amazing!>

*She smiles*

Astarte took a deep breath and nodded, looking quite a lot more cheerful, "Let's go see them?"

Eduj managed to get reactions from Hector and Stefan, but they were still clearly in a daze. He began slowly tunneling his way along the length of the road back in the direction of Zolt's place, and dragging the others after him.

*The ground above Eduj splits in half & opens like a set of sliding doors.*

<HOLD IT! GET OUT OF THE HOLE AND PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE 'EM!>
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*Of course, Noctis gets a knock on her door.*

<Excuse me, Ma'am, but we have to bring the delegates together for the next debate.>
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*Ven was sitting on the edge of the water, staring blankly over the water. She hardly acknowledged Tirea's presence.*
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"Yeah, alright."

*Roatha gets up & begins heading over to the Dragons' dressing room.*
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"Alright. Please tell us what you know about the Spirit & the Foggy Swamp cult."

<Nope. It has to be both of you.>

Astarte followed after him.

"Alright! I'm coming out," Eduj called up. He lifted the ground up to push the three of them out of the hole. "We're chi-blocked and beaten."

"Certainly," Noct said as she stood up, and headed over.

--

"Please?" Mortal asked, not really feeling demeaned by using the word.

--

Gabe rolled over and looked down to see where her teammates were, then hopped down into the water, and made her way over to where Ven was sitting. "You did great out there. Your first match was a quarter final game against some seriously tough competition, and not only did you hold your own, you even won the sudden death. You were amazing today, and you'll only get better," She hoped she was making Ven feel at least a bit better.

*Tirea nods in agreement to what Gabe had said*

"I got knocked out easily, even with you protecting me. And I only won the sudden death because I happened to fall on the other guy."
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"Do you accept Mortal's politeness, as convincingly sincere as it obviously wasn't?"

*Senthose sits up.*

<Sure, it doesn't really make a difference whether I tell you or not. I don't know how that monster made it to the mortal world, but I thought it would be useful if I could control it. Those swamp-people boasted that they could summon it and give it orders, so I saw to it that they had what they needed to do just that, and instructed them to order it to drag the 2 of you into the Spirit World. The fact that you've made it all the way here suggests that they succeeded in calling it to them, but not in ordering it around. Meaning it's useless to me.>
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*The delegates assemble on the stage, as before. This time, Keter is wearing a white dress and shoes. The dress is decorated with faint vines circling up it and the occasional flower--purple, star like ones & blue, rounder ones. She also has dangling silver earrings, bracelets, & a necklace. Her arms are folded slightly at her waist, & she nods stiffly at Noctis when she comes to join them.*

Host<You are all free to begin as you'd like.>
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*The Metalbender keeps a fist pointed at them. A couple of others are behind him. It looks like the cops split in half, & the other half went to chase the Purists.*

<Explain yourselves.>

<SO?>

*Tirea drags Ven into the water, then over to Gabe for a group hug*

<Stop thinking of it that way. Be proud of yourself!>

Gabe hugged, but let go after a second, and sat down on the ledge where Ven was. "The point is, Ven, that you're trying. When you got knocked down, you tried to get back up. That is more important. Skill can be taught, but the will to win can't be, and you have that."

--

"I'd like to start by saying hello to all of my colleagues here today, you look wonderful today, Keter," She then turned to the audience, "As well as hello to all the citizens able to attend, and those listening on the radio."

--

"You really are a public enemy," Mortal said, "That spirit attacked parkgoers the other day. That is public endangerment."

*Ven smiles weakly.*

"Thanks. I feel a lot better."

Tahno<Well, that's too bad. 'Cause wanting it isn't enough to get it.>

*The Wolfbats had just walked out of the hall.*

Tahno<How're you gonna beat us in the finals? You could barely scrape by some no-name chumps.>
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<Counterpoint: If I control the monster, then it will only attack the people & things that I want it to. Unlike you, who basically let, no, fought tooth & nail for 'Lightning Bolt' Zolt to go free. And you think you have the right to act superior because, what, some police handbook told you to?>
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*Franz takes a step forward.*

Franz<I don't think that the public really wants to hear you say, "hello," or lust after Ms. Aurora.>

*Keter looks at him.*

Keter<"Ms. Aurora"? Oh my, do try to be less transparent. It's obvious that you're getting desperate, because you are trailing "Ms. Talea" in the polls by a longshot.>

"Having a name doesn't really give you skill, I'm looking at a pretty popular chump right now," Gabe said, looking at Tahno.

--

"Your counterpoint basically amounted to a hypothetical situation that is completely useless," Mortal said, "Police book or not, you've put the public in danger because you could control the forces you were toying with."

--

"Such hostility, Franz," Noct said, looking a bit taken aback, "Where I'm from you can disagree without being disagreeable. As Keter says, you're behind, but perhaps attacking me isn't the best way to gain in the polls. Have you tried civil debate? I think you would be shocked by how far that'll get you."