Interborough Competition, Part 4

"Today, we will be announcing the first wave of fights of the first round of the Interborough Competition. I shall announce the randomly selected matchups as well as the fields in which the matches will be fought on, including the one we are on now. Tomorrow, after all of the matchups are finished, we will go over the next matchups, which will come the following day," the Chairman explains with obviously fake enthusiasm. "Now, without further ado, let's see those match ups!"

My heart begin pounding as the Chairman points to the scoreboard. The scoreboard rapidly flashed various pictures of Pro Slayers, before landing on a team of three. "Alright, in our first matchup, we have Slayer Hachi's Team in the North Arena, the City Terrain!"

"Oh!" Ella pipes up. "I wonder which squad we're fighting."

"Oh man…I hope they're strong!" Grover squeals in excitement.

"Meh. Doesn't matter who they are. We won't know them anyway," I apathetically reply as I cross my arms. 

The scoreboard flashes again and whose pictures appear on screen next is quite the surprise. "Slayer Renzu's Squad!" The Chairman booms, causing my eyes to widen.

"As you were saying?" Ella smirks as she elbows me in the ribs.

"Grrr…Ralph…" Grover growls.

"Wow, I can't believe we're fighting them!" I exclaim.

"I guess I can finally settle the score with Ralph…" Grover growls again.

"Just what is your issue with Ralph?" Ella asks with a confused chuckle.

Ralph and Ivy stroll over to the three of us, with Lycan shuffling behind in tow.

"Who would have thought?" Ralph laughs. "And in round one, no less, eh?"

"Yeah, quite the shock," Ella replies.

"Well, no matter which team wins, no hard feelings, right?" Ralph asks with a smirk.

"You mean when we win," Ivy adds.

"Yeah…no hard feelings!" I smirk back. "But we're winning!"

"Right…" Ella shyly adds.

"I'd never let myself lose to you…" Grover growls.

"I don't really care…I didn't really want to win…" Lycan sighs.

Everyone looks back to the scoreboard, as the faces of another squad shows on screen, followed by their opponents. "Brooklyn's Squad Manhattan's Squad in the East arena, the desert!"

"So we're facing the strongest squad here…?" Smirks the cute pink girl.

The scoreboard continues its flashing pictures, until eventually it stops on some more faces that I recognize. "Slayer Hachi's Squad, Team Mikey!" The Chairman booms. "The match will take place in the South Arena, the Jungle Terrain!"

"Aye, I wonder who we're fighting!" Jamie exclaims.

"It doesn't matter. I'm winning," Mikey grumbles.

"You mean we're," Austin mutters as he rolls his eyes.

"Their opponents will be Bronx's Squad!" The Chairman finishes. "And that means that Manhattan's Squad and Brookyln's Squad will be facing each other in-"

"Damn, so we're facing the weakest team…" Mikey growls.

"Oh well," Jamie sighs. "Better luck next time."

"Even if they're the weakest team, they may still have some tricky Cursed Abilities," Austin says. "We should meet up and strategize anyway."

"Tomorrow, the battles commence!" The Chairman booms. "Spend today researching and gathering intel on your opponents using the Pro Slayer database, as well as formulating strategies to beat your opponents, keeping your terrain in mine. We will be hoisting five battles at a time, one on each battlefield. You, as the audience, can go see whichever fight you desire. I hope to see everyone here tomorrow! You are dismissed!" Mumours and chatter escape the audience once the Chairman is finished booming into his mic.

"Alright, let's get to strategizing, my team!" Grover booms as he turns to face Ella and I.

"Yes, we should get going as well," Austin says as he turns to face Jamie and Mikey.

"Suit yourself," Mikey grumbles before wandering off. "My strength is enough of a plan itself."

"Mikey, wait!" Austin snaps, but Mikey doesn't reply, and keeps walking away.

"Mikey, wait…" Jamie whimpers, causing me to cringe.

"Boy, do I feel bad for that team…" Ella sighs.

***

Ella, Grover, and I make our way to the Slayer Organization's library, where, by accessing it via our Slayer license, we can research and watch videos on our opponents. Though of course, we already know our opponents very well.

"Well if we take out Ivy, it should be an auto victory," I suggest. "Being that Ivy can't fight alone and Lycan is just kind of savage without Ivy to tame him. And then Ralph loses a one on three, no matter how strong his arrows may be."

"It won't be that simple," Ella replies.

"I'll just let you two take care of this!" Grover laughs. "The team leader focuses more on the fighting aspect of things!"

"We should at least prioritize Ivy, that's a start," I add.

"But what happens if we take out Ivy?" Ella asks.

"Lycan should lose control. He'll probably still attack us, no, he definitely still will, without any brain behind the brawn he shouldn't be too hard to deal with," I answer.

"Exacataly, Lycan's too unpredictable. We go all out targeting Lycan first, then Ivy," Ella explains.

"Fair enough," I reply.

"It's safe to say that Ralph will be providing cover fire on a city rooftop. How will we deal with that?" Ella asks.

"Once Ralph fires arrows he'll give away his location. I'll use my Air Control to scope him out, and then, Grover will teleport to Ralph and take him out," I answer.

"As long as Ralph's within my eyesight, I can finally settle things with him," Grover growls as he cracks his knuckles.

"And Grover should be able to beat a Shooter in ranged combat," Ella adds.

"A city terrain is a good fit for me, the less mobile the terrain, the better, since I can get anywhere," Grover replies.

"And the city is obviously an unusual terrain for a wolf, that should hinder Lycan's mobility and power," I add.

"As for you and I, the city terrain shouldn't effect else," Ella chimes in

"Yeah, we live in the city, afterall," I chuckle.

"Well, Team Grover, it looks like we've found our plan!" Grover smirks.

"Right!"

 "Yeah!"

***

The next day, Ella, Grover, and I find ourselves standing outside of the city arena.

"Ready, Team Grover?!" Grover exclaims.

I take a deep breath in…then out.

"Ready," I answer.

"Ready!" Ella answers.

"Well then…let's go!"

The three of us then enter the city arena, as Ralph's team enters from the other side. The arena is large enough so that we can't see the location of the other team. The arena is surrounded by rows and rows of audience members, and cameras were all around us, filming our soon to begin battle. We heard a woman's voice over the loudspeakers who I was assuming to be the announcer. "Let the fifth battle of round number one...begin!" She booms.

All of these eyes on me, I can't help it. I'm nervous, really damn nervous. I've never been in the spotlight before, ever. I've always tried to keep to myself in school and in life. I've never had good grades, joined a club, or a sports team, or done any real activities. Just stayed inside and played video games and watched anime. Even when King targeted me, it was different, it was a confined space. But now, even with five other people in this arena…it still feels like all eyes are on me. I take a deep breath in …then out, and then wipe my sweaty palms on my pants.

Looking around the arena, it's just, well, a regular city. The three of us are standing on a normal-ass city street with a couple of parked cars here and there, and towering office buildings all around us, which intrude on our view of the arena.

"So what should we do first?" Grover asks.

"Ella, juice us up please?" I ask.

"Yeah, no problem," Ella answers.

Ella places her hands on the back of my shoulder blades, and I instantly feel my power surging.

"Grover, you shouldn't need any boosting up for now," Ella says.

"Aw man, you don't think I'm worthy?" Grover wines.

"Well your job mostly is just to be the scout, for now," I explain.

I'd be lying if I said I'm not nervous as hell. If we were fighting someone I've never met, I'd be way more confident since I wouldn't have seen their strength. But after watching Ralph, Ivy, and Lycan ight, I'm not all too sure that we can take them. But I kept that to myself. The other two don't need to hear my lack of faith in our team.

***

"How do you think Luis and those other two are gonna fair?" Mikey grumbles.

"Ivy can't fight on her own, she fights by controlling Lycan, so it's essentially a three on two. They are winning for sure," Austin answers.

"That's good," Mikey answers.

"It is?!" Jamie cries, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. I need the de- er…Luis to win. So I can fight him in the finals," Mikey answers.

Jamie and Austin exchanged confused glances, and shrug.