Staten Island vs Queens Squad, Part 1

The three of us wander around the city arena, looking for any member of Team Ralph.

"This sure is a large city…" I mutter.

"I know right? How excessive! Making an entire mini city just for a battle arena for this competition!" Grover replies.

"I suppose tracking down our opponents as well as watching out for sneak attacks is an important part of this competition," Ella adds.

"That would make sense to me. Testing attributes such as stealth and our tracking skills, not just our raw brute strength," I reply.

Grover abruptly pauses.

"You good?" I ask, as Ella and I pause as well.

"Wait, do you guys hear that?" Grover asks.

"No, what do you hear?" Ella asks.

Grover puts his finger up, shushing Ella. "A...flute?" Grover says.

Ella and I look at each other and exchange nervous glances. "Uh oh," we say.

The three of us then hear a howl echo throughout the arena, as a white flash rounds the corner up ahead, charging us. The white beast is a wolf…Lycan.

With another roar, Lycan opens his mouth and rips a fireball our way. 

Ella lets out a brief scream.

Quickly, I duck down and tackle Ella to the ground, as the fireball roars overhead.

"Wormhole!" Grover shouts as he teleports out of the way of the fireball and behind Lycan, his leg bubbling with light green Cursed Power. "I feel bad for attacking a dog, but here I go!" Grover shouts as he chambers his leg, ready to attack, but is thrown off balance when an arrow comes flying towards him.

"Woah!" Grover cries as he falls to the ground on his rump. This startles Lycan, who turns around and snarls at Grover. Lycan then bares his fangs and charges Grover, but Grover swiftly teleports out of the way, reappearing beside Ella and I with a small "Whew!"

Ralph then fires another volley of hours our way.

"Knockback Wave!" Ella shouts as she aims her palm at Ralph's arrows, releasing a small orange ring of Cursed Power, which effectively knocks the arrows away.

"Grover, you got eyes on Ralph yet?!" I ask.

"Not yet, shoot!" Grover answers.

Another volley of arrows comes flying towards us, and Ella quickly ducks over to them to release another Knockback Wave, pushing the arrows back.

"The arrows…they seem to be coming from multiple directions!" Ella cries.

"That's impossible, Ralph doesn't even have a mobility-based Cursed Ability to move around like that? His arrows have to come from him!" I reply.

With a howl, Lycan comes charing at us again, before pouncing on top of me. Ella attempts to fire off another Knockback Wave at Lycan, but is thwarted when an arrow comes flying her way, slashing Ella's hand, and causing her to yelp and retract her hand form Lycan. I draw my katana, in preparation to non-lethally fend Lycan off, but just in the nick of time, Grover teleports in between Lycan and I, kicking Lycan away with a powerful Cursed Power Barrier reinforced kick, sending Lycan tumbling backwards with a whimper.

"We'll keep Lycan occupied, Luis, you find Ralph!" Grover orders as he drops to the ground in front of me.

"Right!" I reply. "Air Control!" I emit my Cursed Power into the atmosphere in every direction, hoping to sense some air waves that feel like someone firing off arrows from a bow.

In the midst of my concentration, I can feel the air waves swarm around Lycan as he pounces towards me again, but I put my trust in Grover, who teleports in front of Lycan again, fending me off.

And then…I feel it. The airwaves swirling around a man on a nearby city rooftop looming over us, shooting arrows from a bow our way.

"Grover!" I shout, demanding my squadmate's attention, who instantly turns to face me. As Grover does so, Ella ducks in front of him, firing off a Knockback Wave, which repels a fireball that Lycan had sent streaking through the air towards Grover. "Up there!" I continue as I point to the rooftop where Ralph is sniping on.

"You know…this is the perfect chance to try something!" I exclaim as I draw my katana, bringing it high above my head as I wrap my wind around it's blade. "Air Control…" I begin to say as I thin my Cursed Power net, aiming a line of Cursed Power straight towards Ralph, allowing me to perfectly pinpoint him, like the scope on a sniper rifle. "Focus Slash!" I shout as I slice my katana downwards, sending a blade of wind flying towards Ralph, surely hitting him. By focusing my Air Control into a straight line rather than a sprawling net, I can perfectly pinpoint my opponent's location, even while they are out of eyesight, allowing me to strike them with a ranged attack anyway.

Grover narrows his eyes as I see Cursed Power pour into them. Grover continues using Cursed Power Sensing to find Ralph, until eventually, he spots him. "Yeah, I see him!" Grover answers. "I'm out!" Grover then teleports away, surely to face Ralph.

Lycan, in turn, rips another fireball mine and Ella's way. Swiftly, I deactivate my Air Control then wrap my wind around my katana's blade, slashing through Lycan's fireball with ease.

"Now…" I smirk. "I can focus all of my attention on you!"

***

Grover teleports up to the city rooftops, and when he spots Ralph, teleports over to the rooftop besides the one that Ralph is snipping on. Quickly, Ralph fires off a small volley of arrows to defend against Luis' Air Control: Focus Slash, which slices clean through Ralph's arrows, blasting Ralph in a small burst of blue Cursed Power and air.

Ralph coughs as he wipes the wind away from his face, before opening his eyes and turning to face Grover, who's drawn a handful of kunai knives.

"You know that this fight is, right?" Ralph asks with a smirk as he knocks back a glowing golden arrow constructed out of Cursed Power, aiming his bow at Grover, who aims his kunai knives back at Ralph in response.

"Yeah…" Grover growls.

"THE FIGHT TO SEE WHO BECOMES THE NEXT CHAIRMAN OF THE SLAYER ORGANIZATION!"

Swiftly, Ralph fires a volley of arrows Grover's way, but Grover is faster. Grover teleports out of the way, before teleporting behind Ralph, flinging a few Cursed Power barrier infused kunai knives Ralph's way. Ralph shoots Grover's knives out of the air with his arrows, which begin falling to the ground. But Grover opens up wormholes underneath his falling knives, before opening up another set of wormholes around Ralph, who's already countering by aiming his bow into the air, knocking back an extra powerful arrow, as Grover's second wave of his knife storm begins flying towards Ralph.

 "Fighting against someone you know well…it sure is interesting…" Ralph smirks to himself before firing off his extra powerful arrow into the air, which soars into the air for a bit before exploding, sending dozens of miniature golden arrows falling to the ground towards Ralph and Grover. "Morale Arrow: Valley Shot!"

Ralph's arrows clang into Grover's knives, knocking them to the ground again and canceling Grover's attack, who teleports and dances through Ralph's swarm of falling knives.

"If you know me well, then you should know that I'm about to do this!" Grover shouts as the light green Cursed Power infused in his knives explodes, opening up wormholes all around Ralph. Ralph's arrows then fall into Grover's wormholes, sending them flying back towards Ralph.

"Good play, but unfortunately for you, my Morale Arrow never harms my allies, including myself!" Ralph replies as he crosses his arms, not even bothering to evade his arrows, which pierce straight through Ralph, before dissipating back into his golden Cursed Power.

"Well that's not the only trick up my sleeve!" Grover shouts as he brings his hands together, charging up a small sphere of light green Cursed Power between his palms. "Wormhole, Cursed Power Emission…" Grover begins to say as he thrusts his palms forwards, sending a powerful emission of Cursed Power flying into a nearby wormhole, which exits out of another wormhole, before flying into another wormhole, so on and so forth.

Ralph's smug face falters as he frantically spins around, finding himself surrounded by Grover's Laser Tag Arena. Ralph ducks and weaves through Grover's Cursed Power Emission which continues flying towards him, before ducking into yet another wormhole, then coming flying towards Ralph again from a different direction, until eventually, Ralph finds himself completely surrounded. Ralph, finding nowhere to run, brings his arms up to block, reinforcing them with his golden Cursed Power.

"LASER TAG ARENA!" Grover shouts as his Cursed Power Emission blasts into Ralph, who grunts in pain as he's sent crumbling to the ground. "Yes!" Grover cheers.

***

"The first attack landed on the fight, the clash between Team Grover's Slayer Midori and Slayer Renzu's Squad's Slayer Yajiri!" The announcer booms over the loudspeakers.

"Aye, pretty good, Grover," Nick smirks as he approvingly crosses his arms at Grover's impressive display.