We Have To Stop Him! Introducing... Kapow???

Tempo called out to Celsius, but he was ultimately ignored as he continued charging his ability. The only thing that mattered to the ice user was completely annihilating his opponent and proving himself as the most powerful element manipulator there is. There was nothing else Tempo could do besides interfere directly, however, he knew that it would likely cost his team a point. "God damn it! Infinite. Blur. We have to stop them. Remember that race we said we were gonna do, well now's our chance!"

"Stop them? What? Why?" Fixer, the boy covered in his own tech asked. "I wanna see this."

"The kid's right, this is pretty hype." the blur added, getting a smack in the back of the head from Infinite. 

"You idiot! Obviously, Tempo knows something we don't. What's wrong?"

"I can see the future, technically, and in that future, these guys destroy the entire stadium and everyone in it dies a very firey and very painful death." Tempo saying this triggered nothing but wide-eyed stares in response from everyone, even Mania looked surprised.

"That's– that's not very hype." muttered the blur.

"Yeah…' whispered Fixer. Both of their heads drooped alongside their shoulders.

"It's not. Infinite, you stop Blaze. Blur, we'll get Celsius. Go!" 

Before the duo of element manipulators could fire off their attacks, they were interrupted by the three heroes as Tempo slowed time, simulating super speed while the Blur sprinted beside him. Infinite went the opposite direction, flying across the stage to Blaze.

Blur and Tempo pushed Celisus off the stage while Infinite grabbed Blaze's arm and pointed toward the sky, causing his flames to shoot toward the heavens rather than at Team New York. Time resumed, and from everyone else's perspective, all three heroes instantly dashed onto the stage, interrupting the battle. The crowd released a disappointed sigh and the announcer began shouting into the microphone. None of them had a clue that their deaths had just been prevented.

The announcer, of course, wasn't too happy that his show was interrupted. "Hey, what gives! Team New York has just been disqualified for the round! The score is now 1-2! Pull something like that again and you'll be DQ'd from the entire tournament!"

Tempo, Celsius, and Blur were laid out on the grass; only Tempo let out a sigh of relief while the Blur pumped his fist as he was slightly faster than the time manipulator. However, Celsius, to put it simply, was infuriated. "What the fuck is your problem!" Celsius, still in his ice form, pushed Tempo away from him. Despite being frozen solid, he was seething.

"You were going to kill everyone, you dumbass! You and Blaze were going to nuke the whole freaking stadium! I saw it with my own eyes! Do you not think? Is fighting all you think about? Innocent people were going to die! Who am I kidding, the first time we met you robbed a lady; you probably couldn't give a damn about anyone else." 

Celsius reverted back to his human form; his face was solemn as he sat in the grass and buried his own face between his knees. Tempo was right; he wasn't thinking at all. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I just– that was my one chance and now it's gone forever. My one chance to finally show you; to show everyone, that I'm not second place. I just wanted to prove that I was as strong as everyone else. I'm tired of being a joke."

Blur and Tempo looked at each other before looking back at Celsius. They could tell how passionate he was about this fight, Tempo began to feel bad for all the times he dismissed Celsius, thinking he was just a weirdo back then. He was still pretty weird, but all he wanted this entire time was recognition, so much so, he forgot where he was. In his mind, he and Blaze were the only two people in the stadium.

"Hey, listen. I know it might not mean much, but in the timeline I saw, where everyone died from the amount of damage you two caused, you won. There was no second place. You won. I had no idea you were so powerful. I'm sorry for treating you like you were weak. You're clearly not."

"Yeah, dude. I'm glad you're his archnemesis and not mine. I'm sure Infinite thinks the same thing. Right Infinite!" the Blur yelled across the stage, but Infinite could barely hear him.

"What did you say?"

"Just say yeah."

"Okay. Yeah."

"See, even Infinite agrees. You're strong, dude. Probably the strongest guy here."

This was the first real conversation Tempo and Celsius have had; the first conversation between Nate and Ky. Ky could sense that underneath the mask and the ice manipulation, Celsius was a good kid– or at least– he was at one point in his life. Ky thought back on his earlier behavior when the game first launched. He found himself reliving those moments when the game was urging him to kill. "When we first met, and you were robbing that lady, you were doing it because the game made you feel powerful, right?"

"Yeah…" Celsius shook his head, which was still in between his knees. Ky exhaled, realizing Celsius was a victim of the game as well. A victim of the addiction.

"I get it. If I didn't run into you that day, I probably would have done the same thing. This game– it does something to us. It makes us act in a way we don't normally act. I bet as you were fighting Blaze, the game was telling you to keep fighting, right?"

Celsius looked back at that moment, remembering the many prompts appearing on his screen, telling him to go all out against Blaze, to kill him even if it meant killing himself. "Yeah, it did. Come to think of it, the game always does that. Ever since the beginning. I even beat up my own twin brother because the game said I would be rewarded for it– I mean, my brother pissed me off and I wanted to punch him so bad but I wouldn't have done it if the game didn't tell me to. Is the game turning me into a bad person?"

'Just as I thought. It's like that for everyone.'

Just as the other two had forgotten that the Blur was part of the conversation, the cobalt speedster chimed in. "Wait, what are you guys talking about? The game never talks to me."

Before Tempo and Celsius could respond, the announcer once again began talking into the microphone. "Will the next two contestants step onto the stage!"

In an instant, a little boy jumped onto the stage and immediately pointed his finger at the caped hero, who was still on stage with Blaze. "Infinite! You're mine!" 

"And it looks like our next two contestants are Infinite and Kapow!" said the announcer.

"Kapow?" Pretty much everyone repeated the name aloud, finding the name completely ridiculous.

"Oh, I didn't volunteer." Infinite said to the announcer, however, the announcer simply pointed to Infinte's feet. He was on the stage, therefore, he was up next. "Seriously?" Infinite was ready to argue with the announcer, but he was already on thin ice.

"Those are the rules. Please go to center stage."

Infinite sighed before flying to his designated starting point. The little boy, who looked to be no older than ten years old, approached Infinite with a beaming smile. Infinite looked at Team New York, then at Team Los Angeles before looking back at the announcer. "Uh– wait, this kid's like ten years old."

"I'm eleven so shut the fuck up." The child chimed in rudely.

Infinite's eyes grew wide and he recoiled backward, not expecting something to come from the mouth of an elementary school student. "Oh, wow. A potty mouth. Kid, listen, I don't think you want to fight me–"

"No, I really want to fight you. You see, Infinite, I look up to you. What better way to prove myself than to fight the Hero of Limitless Power?"

"You look up to me? Oh, no am I a bad influence?" Infinite placed his hands on his forehead as he tried thinking back on the times he could have possibly set a bad example for children on camera and let a curse word slip. His entire thing was being someone that others, including kids, could look up to. He felt it was his responsibility to set a good example.

Kapow furrowed his eyebrows and curled the ends of his lips as if he'd eaten something bitter. "Huh? No, you're lame as shit. I just mean I look up to your strength. You're a disgusting Law player. I would never follow your lame-ass example."

"You know, adults don't even curse that much, right?" Infinite was still shocked to see a little boy talking to him with such a bad mouth and dirty attitude. 'What the hell is wrong with kids nowadays."

"Listen old man–"

"I'm twenty-four…"

"Your birth year literally starts with a one. You're old."

'Am I old?'

The audience and the announcer were growing bored of seeing the two beta testers talk; it didn't help that no one could hear what they were saying.

"Okay, enough chitchat, guys. Are you ready!?" said the announcer, but neither of the two beta testers moved. 

"Listen, Kabang-" Infinite was still trying to get the kid to back down, but the little boy interrupted him.

"That's not my name! My name is-" The child smirked for a second as he stuck a pose, clenching his fists and puffing his chest out in front of him. "KAPOW!" Lightning struck down from the heavens right on top of the boy, turning him into a hulking man of similar stature to Infinite. Their outfits were similar as well, both wearing skin-tight suits with their own unique symbol on their chests and a cape flowing behind them. The only difference was their color schemes. Infinite had the more heroic look, wearing a shiny silver and black color; whereas Kapow's costume was mostly black with minor accents of red which gave him a more menacing appearance.

"Wow, what a rip-off." the Blur uttered. "The devs have like, no creativity."

Celsius and Tempo looked at the blur with eyes devoid of any type of emotion. 'Ironic.' they both thought.

At center stage, both caped heroes stared each other down as they floated just a few feet from the floor. The Number one hero of New York was about to face off against one of Los Angeles's most notorious villains with a kit similar to his own.

As the two men stared each other down, the announcer raised his hand in the air before slicing downward and shouting, "Begin!"