One Tournament. One Fighter.

Katie River was a simple girl. Only in her early twenties and follows the law like every law-abiding citizen should. But she was different than some. She had a desire. A desire to be one of the great mana fighters there is.

Growing up in an urban city, she always gets excited by the annual mana tournament. Of course, with ever evolving use of mana orbs, a mana tournament was created. A simple string of battles to determine the strongest among the strong. It was a free for all. No sides. No running away. You get in, you get in to climb the ladder and never look back. Year after year, champions come on top and be hailed for years by their fans and they will always come back the next year for another, till they get beaten by a new champion. But even so, old champions get their praise and still live well-off after their first successful tournament.

That was the great thing about mana tournaments. You only need one shot in one tournament in one year. There's no need to keep up the spot. Once you win one time in the finale of a tournament, you're pretty much set for life as fans and sponsors come your way. It wasn't bizarre. There were many champions that gave up the mantra and went on to become successful elsewhere, some became actors and actresses and some established their own businesses.

The most famous example of that transition was Alex Borough, the owner of LX Corporation, the company behind the tournament. Back in the old days, the tournament was but simple battles in the streets between friends and competitors. Come one year, and Alex Borough wins and gets recognized by many. He fought and climbed the ladder as best he could, till he reached the top and established the tournament everyone knows as is today.

Alex Borough was the inspiration for many, even if it was power-hungry maniacs, greedy adults, or fan-loving kids.

Katie River was one of those. She was a fan through and through. A fan that desired to become something more. To become like her idol. It was strange for her family, who kept to themselves away from the ruckus of this mana-filled world, for her to idolize a man like him. Her mother would sometimes tell her idolize someone better, a woman, even. But Katie didn't care. It was for that special reason that she had to climb up to the top and become number one.

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*kick*

"Ouch!" Said Katie.

Earlier, she felt a kick in her elbow.

"This is for taking the Mana Tournament, I should be the one in the Mana Tournament Katie!" A man taller than her by a few said with a laugh.

"But he would have kicked your butt if I didn't save you!" Katie pouted. Her face red like a tomato.

"You're just lucky I let use the orb that one time."

"And you're lucky I haven't used it today and need to save it for the tournament." She hit the man in the elbow to take revenge for earlier.

That man was her best friend (and on again, off again, friend who would secure her lips from time to time). He went by the name of Nate. He was tall and medium build man that would stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd with his ridiculously-colored red hair. When it came to fighting, Nate's knowledge might as well be round up to that of a street thug, but with that, he was "street smart" so he knew when to fight, when to back out, and when to play it smart.

As for Katie, she was slightly below average when it came to her height between women so it was normal. When it came to fighting, she knew the basics and could very well hold her own in a battle, even without the use of mana orbs.

Just the other day was her "accidental" first match in the tournament due to Nate almost backing out. His opponent was 10x bigger than him and he couldn't take him in a match so quickly so Katie stepped up with an orb for the first time and took out her opponent in mere seconds. Unfortunately for her, the effects don't last long so she returned back to normal almost after the battle ended. That was how she accidentally joined in the tournament instead of Nate.

Nate wasn't mad about it. In fact, he cheered Katie for her efforts. But that didn't stop him from wanting to tease her from time to time.

Today was another day of the tournament. Katie and Nate were standing outside the building that housed the arena. Depending on rankings, players would be placed in different arenas of different types to accommodate their efforts and tastes. Katie (and Nate) were still in the bottom and so they had nothing but to be placed in a shabby old building for an "official" street fight.

As they finished up their conversation, they noticed a man walking by. He was rather skinny-looking that it was insane to think about why he was there.

"BWAHAHAHA!" Nate immediately laughed, "That's your opponent?"

"Hmm."

Katie was rather sharp about him, but so was Nate, who more or less chose to express himself by laughing.

"I should beat this guy up and take his mana orb so I can be in the tournament!" Nate slammed his fists together.

"You never know how big his mana orb might make him," Katie said angrily, "He might whoop your short ass Nate!"

"Pfft... Who are you calling short?"

Ignorning Nate's remarks, Katie looked at the mana orb in her hand. It was very small, almost to the size of a marble. But it was shiny with a silver paint to cover it. Anyone could mistake it for a marble, because that's how low-level mana orbs were to low-level fighters. There was nothing Katie could do about it but use it and try to win the fight.

She knew something that Nate would often forget: Never underestimate your opponent.

*glooowwww*

Just as Katie used the orb, she felt her height increase and her muscles grow bigger, almost ripping her suit. But luckily, her suit was designed just for that, just as any fighter suit created for mana tournaments. They had to withstand the power of mana orbs.

But most of all, Katie was taller than Nate now.

Nate looked at her with an uninterested look.

"Who are you calling short now?" Katie laughed and made a mess of Nate's hair, "HAHAHA!"

"I really wish you stop using that thing like that!"

But the time of jokes was over, it was time to start the tournament.