Team Mikey vs Brookyln Squad, Part 4

"And there you have it, folks, in an odd turn of events, Slayer Hachi's Squad, Team Michael, takes the victory over Team Okori's Squad after Slayer Jishaku surrenders?!" The announcer booms over the mic, clearly confused, leaving the audience sitting there, scratching their heads. A couple are booking after the anti-climatic finish. But I'm sure that for Jamie, it wasn't all that anti-climactic.

"Huh? What the heck is happening down there?!" Grover asks.

"I don't know, but it seems…sweet?" Ella suggests.

"Jamie made a new friend, I guess," I answer.

"Ohhh, and here I was wanting to see Jamie and Austin fight some more!" Grover groans, causing Ella and I to chuckle.

***

"Huh? What! Where am I?!" Mikey freaks out like a feral animal, the very second that his petrification is undone from Medusa flailing unconscious.

"You were turned to stone from Medusa's Cursed Ability!" Jamie cheerfully answers.

"The fight's over, we won," Austin answers.

"The fight's over?! No way, I've barely done anything?!" Mikey shouts before spotting Mercury out of the corner of his eye. "That one! She's still alive! I'll kill her!" Mikey exclaims as he aims his dual pistols at Mercury, causing Mercury to yelp. 

"No Mikey, don't!" Jamie cries. "Mercury already surrendered!"

"What is she, a wuss?! That gives me even more incentive to take her out!" Mikey roars as he prepares an Earth-Core Cannon which he fires Mercury's way. "Burn out, cowards!" Mikey cackles.

Mercury forms another Castle Fortress and cowards behind, knowing full well that her steel shield won't be enough to block Mikey's flames.

But before things can escalate, the lights in the arena begin to flicker as the buzz of electricity rings through the air. Before Mikey's attack can blast into Mercury, a black and yellow flash zips by, knocking Mikey's fireball away before stopping behind Mikey.

"Oh come on, this again?!" Mikey snaps as he spins around to face the black and yellow flash, Nick, who's standing there crackling with electricity.

The audience begins to clap and cheer for the star of the show, the star of any show, the famed Slayer Hachi.

"How do you keep knocking my attacks away so easily?!" Mikey snaps. But when he sees Nick's hand, Mikey's eyes widen.

"Yup, as I've said, you've gotten stronger," Nick says as he rubs his scorched-up hand, contrary to the first time Nick knocked Mikey's Earth-Core Cannon away, which left him unscathed. "But you've done enough. Your team already won, and you were already knocked out," Nick finishes as he zips behind Mikey in the blink of an eye, karate-chopping Mikey on the back of the neck, who's eyes limply roll into the back of his head before limply falling to the ground.

Now, the crowd goes wild.

Nick turns to face the audience with an embarrassed smile. He doesn't seem to enjoy being the star of the show.

"Slayer Hachi, we love you!"

"I'm your biggest fan!"

"HAVE MY BABY!"

"Oh, shuddap, I'm his biggest fan!" Grover snaps.

"Uh…everything's all good now, everyone!" Nick awkwardly shouts to the audience. The second that Nick begins speaking, the crowd goes silent.

"What's so great about Nick, anyway?" I grumble. "He's just some weird old man."

"Now…enjoy the rest of the show!" Nick finishes as he slinks away, causing the audience to go crazy one last time.

***

And so, thus ended the first round of the New York Interborough Competition. All of the fallen competitors of the match were carried off in stretchers, while the ones still standing were simply escorted out. Later on, Jamie explained what happened between her and Mercury, and Medusa was arrested as soon as she regained consciousness. Medusa was kicked out of the Slayer Organization, and therefore, the entire competition. The Chairman told us that we had a week off to rest before the second round of the competition, but I knew full well that that week would not be spent resting, but training.

Training for what's to come.

***

"EVERYONE DOWN! HANDS WHERE I SEE THEM!"

A few Pro Slayers stormed into an underground fight ring, guns blazing. Instantally, everyone in that fight instinctively put their hands up in defense, as to not get shot.

As the Pro Slayers swarmed the underground fighting ring, they looked around. The fighting ring was a huge underground complex filled with dozens of fenced in cages, where fighters were in the middle of duking it out, until they paused their battles in order to watch the commotion unfold. Meanwhile, other people were putting large sums of cash on the fights. Who will win, who will lose. But what the small timers in the fighting ring didn't know was that the fights were staged nine times out of ten, and that they were just wasting their money. The winner of the fight was determined by who had the most amount of bets placed on them, and the higher-ups of the fighting ring, who managed the fights, always went positive and raked in unfathomable sums of money. Government Officials, people just looking for a break in life, people desperate for cash, teachers, wealthy doctors. Any type of person that you can imagine, at least one version of them had their toes dipped into the fighting ring.

As for Jamie Ebba, she fell into the "people just looking for a break in life" type of category. Jamie's father was always a poor man growing up. But when he found a woman that he loved, got married, and had a daughter, everything was looking up in life for him.

But then, after his wife died six years after the birth of his daughter, Jamie's father fell into a depression, and turned to alcohol. Unable to pay rent, too depressed to work, needing to fund his newfound addiction, and having to support his daughter, Jamie's father had no idea what to do.

He tried to find work, but he was already in a massive amount of debt, so no matter how hard he worked, Jamie's father wasn't going to work his way out of his slump any time soon.

As for his addiction, Jamie's dad tried to give it up, but after a week, where his life didn't immediately change for the better, Jamie's dad went right back to his addiction. 

As for rent, obviously, Jamie's dad needed a place to live, so forgoing paying rent for his apartment was out of the question, of course. And so, that left Jamie's dad with one final option;

His daughter.

Jamie's dad managed to find out about the underground fighting ring, and that there was an age slot for children. And so, Jamie's dad signed her up for these matches, and by betting against Jamie (as Jamie was going up children specifically designed to win fights, and she was weak in comparison) Jamie's dad began to make a lot of money and fast.

But Jamie's young psychology began to shift during her time in the fighting ring. 

At first, Jamie lost every fight that she was a part of, beaten into a bloody pulp. But then -much to Jamie's dad's surprise- she began to win fights. And then, rather than better against Jamie, Jamie's dad made far more money betting on his daughter.

And so, three years came and passed, and Jamie had become a powerful fighter. But then, the Pro Slayers came in and shut down the fighting ring, arresting everyone who was a part of it.

But as for Jamie, since she was a victim of the fighting ring and not a partaker in it, she was left off the hook.

But Jamie was now parentless. And due to the violent tendencies she gained during his time at the fighting ring, Jamie couldn't be put up for adoption, since she would often attack the other kids. Jamie developed a love for battles, blood, and pain, and would freak out if he went too long without experiencing some sort of bloody violent rush. And so, no one knew what to do with Jamie.

That is, until Jamie was adopted by a Pro Slayer and was trained in using cursed Power. Jamie, a violent unhinged child with no place to go, was recruited to join the Pro Slayer organization. That way, Jamie can release her violent tendencies that she built up for a good cause.

***

"Welcome, everyone, to the second round of the New York Interborough Competition!" The Chairman booms on the stage in the center of the first arena, causing the crowd to cheer. "I apologize for making all of you wait for one whole week for the action to continue, but don't worry! With this second round the competition is back and better than ever before!" The crowd goes wild. "But before we can continue, I must introduce you all to two more competitors that will be joining us in this competition!" The Chairman finishes, causing a wave of confusion to escape the crowd and the Slayers alike.

"Huh? Is this to replace Medusa?" Jamie asks.

"But then it would only be one new competitor," Austin answers.

"Let me introduce you all to…August and Winter!" The Chairman booms, and as if on cue, two new figures enter the arena, a guy and a girl.

"Why didn't the Chairman say their codenames?" Grover asks.

"Or even their last names?" Ella adds.

"Are they even Slayers?" I suggest.