HOW WE WON

4 MARCH, THURSDAY, CONTINUED

"Don't worry, EJ." Fluffy smiled, "Our Luna Bell doesn't know how to lose."

I had never thought that one needed to KNOW HOW to lose. Like wasn't losing something that happened because you DIDN'T KNOW HOW? Anyway, as if to prove Fluffy the Master Strategist right, Bell turned up the heat on the ice - like literally, he suddenly became the Human Torch (Superhero reference... the fire guy), except that his flame was blue right? So more like Hades (Disney cartoon baddie.) And then, I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly there was a fire ball knocking/melting down the pillars like bowling pins. It went right through, and everything came crashing down. Beta Glenn coolly slid down the collapsing column and raised a new one through the sizzling mist.

The fireball kept going, eventually crashing into our porch - which was made of wood. So yes, the whole thing caught fire, including the banner. Someone went round back for the hose and yeah... we had a few guys taking care of the fire thing while the match went on LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED.

Good thing the wind direction was on our side.

Certainly, our guest did not expect us to continue the "demonstration" but our wolves were cheering and clapping quite enthusiastically. Me too really.

That's MY MATE out there. And he's so cool, he's hot. {Mate ~ ❤️ }

The air shifted in a weird way. I recognized this instant freezing effect as snowflakes started crystallizing in mid-air, right in front of my eyes. But basically with the fire and the ice-making, the air pressure was very confused. It's a science thing, but I think it was also a magic thing. It was quite an interesting experience. Like I could feel an updraft and there were tiny cyclones in the battlefield... urm, I mean the sparring ring. You know, the flat rectangular space that was marked by white lines. The white lines were still there - but it wasn't flat anymore.

Anyway, Bell and Beta Glenn met each other mid-way. I think both men had decided the best course of action would be to end this demonstration match asap. Their swords clashed with a "SHIIIIINNG" but that could've been one of EJ's sound effects. It was hard to tell. EJ made very realistic sounds, and with the chorus of hooting and clapping from behind me... the sounds fell like a storm all around me.

When their swords met a second time, Beta Glenn flicked his wrist at just the right moment, causing Bell to drop his sword with such force, it shot off to the side and fell unceremoniously onto the mud. (Most of the ground was mud now.)

"OHHHH!!!!" EJ yelled, "MATCH POINT!"

EJ wasn't the most technically correct commentator.

Bell couldn't attack without the sword, so it looked like Beta Glenn's win. The Snow Beta definitely thought so too. He lifted the sword and with a polite bow proceeded to touch Bell's shoulder with the back of his blade.

But Fluffy was right, Bell didn't know how to lose. He smirked at the last minute and stepped back. A black portal opened and swallowed him. Someone among the spectators screamed. The portal disappeared and reappeared behind the Snow Beta who had stepped back. He turned his head but was too late. Bell had stepped out behind him. With a single swift motion, Bell picked up his fallen sword and ran it into the snow beta's back.

More screaming.

And then Bell pulled out the bloody sword, his other hand firmly supporting the Beta's back so he remained standing. Beta Glenn opened his eyes and blinked.

I had to give it to Beta Glenn here. He had blood, just a single trickle appearing on the side of his mouth, but he remained standing, his expression coolly bland.

At this point, everyone was just frozen in shock. I don't think anyone expected Bell to actually run the Snow Beta through with his sword. I mean, this was just a demonstration, right?

Beta Glenn look down at his hand and touched his stomach where Bell's sword had definitely come through a split second ago. He did this very calmly, almost like he was used to being stabbed in the back. And then he said, "Ah... I was careless."

That was it. Suddenly everyone was clapping and hooting and cheering. I clapped too.

"Rebel wins!" EJ announced, inducing another wave of cheering!

Bell smirked, and then he turned to look at me. I clapped enthusiastically for him. It just felt like the right thing to do. I mean, have you seen my parents clap at my school performance? TBH, I didn't, but I could imagine it.

{Mate ~ ❤️ }

I wanted to be the one who clapped the loudest.

"Rebel! Rebel! Rebel!" Our wolves chanted.

"And let's give it up for the Snow Beta too!" EJ called out, and everyone was most obliging in joining him to chant, "Snow Wolf! Snow Wolf! Whoot whoot!"

Which was just really fun to shout so we shouted it often that night, the "whoot whoot" part should sound like a hoot.

Every time the Snow Wolves did something cool - even if we didn't quite get it, as long as our commentators said anything about them making a good move, we would clap and call out, "Snow wolf! Snow Wolf! Whoot whoot!"

After the demonstration, we continued with the matches. The young warriors on both sides got single sticks - the one from our training hall with nice plush non-slip grip tape in various colors. They may use their sticks or fists to attack, but again, wolf power was only for support and defense. Also, they were reminded that shifting into their wolf form would result in instant disqualification.

The ground was still half iced with broken ice columns stuck in the mushy smashed-up ground. It was quite the unexpected challenge thrown into what would otherwise have been rather standard training matches.

The younger snow warriors had far less impressive (read destructive) powers, but powers nevertheless. The first snow wolf was hailed as the Snow Moon Pack's young genius at 15. He could create some kind of ice cyclone. Just a small one that came up to Marlow's knees. But Marlow kept tripping up on it and lost without getting a single hit in.

"Get up Mars!" Nix yelled.

Marlow would get up and trip over 15 seconds in.

"Oooohh..." EJ said, "That's the kind of fall that hurts."

"No wonder snow wolves are one of the most popular breeds of fight dogs." Fluffy guilelessly commented.

"Get up Mars!" Nix yelled again.

"Yeah, get up Mars!" Ethan's voice called out too.

So the first match was us alternating between shouting, "Snow Wolf! Snow Wolf! Whoot whoot!" And "Get up Mars!"

Needless to say, the snow wolves won the match.

But Mars kept getting up even when one of his legs was broken. We didn't realize it until Titanium noticed that his foot was facing the wrong way and called off the match.

Nix and some of the Morning Light goons carried Marlow out.

"It's unfair!" EJ complained, "They've got snow magic!"

"Ah, but the wolves here have something more powerful than magic." Fluffy smiled.

"Really? What?" EJ asked.

Yes, what? I would like to know too.

"It's a secret." Fluffy said.

We were going to lose all the matches, weren't we?

Jack came up to the field to face the second Snow Wolf. Jack, the inter-high gold medalist. The second Snow Wolf recognized Jack and looked nervous.

But Jack wasn't on a training mat. He was on a pretty broken-up battlefield. And I remembered watching his ranking match at Thursday's Training session, how he was technically good, but always held back just a bit.

I guess when you fought for competition, you just needed to make the right "touch" for the point, not really kill your opponent to win.

I stood up and shouted to Jack, "Don't win. Kill him!"

Which admittedly wasn't the most diplomatic thing to say. And of course, all my wolves yelled, "Kill him! Kill him!"

And Ethan yelled from where Marlow was being healed on the sidelines, "Kiiiiiillll him!"

And then he laughed like a hyena.

I'm sure our guests knew it was just a figure of speech, right?

So the second match was us alternating between shouting, "Snow Wolf! Snow Wolf! Whoot whoot!" And "Kiiiiiill him!"

We actually won that one. No, nobody died. Jack understood. He didn't hold back his punches this time. In fact, he really killed it out there - again, only figuratively speaking.

"Good job, Jack!" I yelled when we clapped for Jack's win.

The other guy was terrified most of the match. And Jack didn't even give him breathing space, much less a chance to hit back or cast anything. We felt bad. Fluffy commented, "Good game."

We all clapped politely for the Snow Wolf.

"And that was Night Leaf's secret power." Fluffy told us.

"Eh? What was?" EJ asked.

Yeah, what was?

"Didn't you see it?" Fluffy tsked, "Watch the next match carefully, EJ."

So the last match was Link. Nice guy Link. The Snow wolf that came up to take the starting bow looked kind of scary fierce too.

When Fluffy reminded everyone that the score was 1-1 and this was the final match, the Snow Wolf looked SERIOUSLY scary fierce. We were probably doomed for this one. Ah, whatever.

"Any word of encouragement from our Alpha Princess?" Fluffy prompted.

What? Urm... What should I say? Don't die?

But if there was anything I could tell Link, what would I say? Thank you for being the nicest older teen I've ever met? Thank you for being a good big brother and friend to everyone? Thank you for the times you organized Ultimate dodgeball for us to play? And driving us out to town after Saturday Lycan Study Group when you had the car? And that time when you helped us get our frisbee out from the tree when we were just dumb pups and got detention for being late for school...

None of it sounded particularly chant-worthy or inspiring. If I said, "Just have fun out there." Would that sound too obvious that I didn't expect him to win?

"Nice guys kick butt too!" I decided.

My wolves cheered like I came up with the answer to life, "Nice guys kick butt!"

They didn't sound very nice about it though but everyone was having fun. Our guests did know we were just having fun right?

And Link, it turned out, did have some wolf power - he could stamp or clap and make this super loud BOOM sound. It was so loud, the remaining ice pillars cracked. The one closest to him splintered and crashed as shards on the ground.

My ears kept feeling like my eardrums cracked and I could feel the physical sensation of liquid flow out of my ears.

The other snow wolf was even cooler than the first one (in my opinion). He could make ice or snow animals that came to life - just like in the Lycan legends. He made this giant ice bear.

And we were like, "Snow Wolf! Snow Wolf! Whoot whoot!"

We didn't even need any cue from Fluffy to understand that what just happened was AMAZING.

I mean, that was like only the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Link kicked it and it went BOOM! And despite my ears breaking all over again, I shouted with all my other wolves, "Nice guys kick butt!"

The Snow Wolf made a pair of snow wolves that closed in on Link.

And we were like, "Snow Wolf! Snow Wolf! Whoot whoot!"

Link sidestepped and then literally kicked the first wolf in the butt! BOOM! The snow creature shattered like powder sugar.

Of course, we clapped and cheered, "Nice guys kicked butt!"

Then Link punched out the second snow wolf. BOOM!

The other guy ran out of power and couldn't make anything else. He held out his stick to fight. So did Link. Link was the better stick fighter though, and he won. At one point, he did that side step move again and kicked the other guy from the back, but you know, it was Link, so there was no "BOOM" when he kicked people.

Most of the stick fight were just variations of our usual drill moves. He even gave the other guy a chance to hit back. After the whole thing, he patted the Snow Wolf's back and said, "Good game."

Which was what nice guys did. They patted you on the back and said "Good game", NOT stabbed you in the back.

Anyway, that was how we won two of three matches. Not bad at all.

Oh yes, we "won" the demo fight too. Although I don't think there was supposed to be a win or lose for that match. It was a demo... But wth. We were barbarian wolves. These technical details weren't really our thing. I mean, when Link punched out the wolf and it went BOOM, EJ yelled, "GOOOAAAAL!"

And everyone cheered and started hollering like a football match.

And later on, someone pointed out that the third Snow Wolf fouled because they weren't allowed to attack with their powers.

And instead of pointing out that the animals didn't really make the first move and were arguably just defending their Snow Wolf caster, the winning argument was, "What? You expect the bear to just stand there and pose?"

So no, we weren't always the most technically correct wolves. But wth, we were just having fun anyway.