Hey everybody, been working on this for a bit but it's finally done =3

For those of you that missed the first parts of this series here's the links

Part 1: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18411244/
Part 2: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18597400/

In this chapter we see the last of the preparation of the match (from both sides) and the fight itself starts! Toddlers vs the circus, it'll be a match full of surprises to be sure! Read to find out how this start of this fun-time brawl goes!

Please enjoy, fav & comment, and have a great day! =D


Cody owned by  ozzie-boxer
Team Modern Fantasy and Team Connell owned by  takinoue
Team Otaku owned by  asuraludu
Other characters owned by me
Pokémon NOT owned by me

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PCA – First Act
Team Pre-K vs Team Big Top
Part 3



“Alright everyone, the match will be in two days and”

“We don’t have a plan or a prayer…”

“Sammi, that’s not a nice thing to say… we’re working on a plan right now.”

The dratini just grumbled as she sulked in her chair, obviously still annoyed she’d been sidelined for the match even if it was going to be a slaughter. Once again Team Pre-K was having a meeting about their upcoming match against Team Big Top… and just like last time they were having it in the Home Economics room. Which only seemed to have gotten worse since their last visit, with several baby dolls (a good number of them sharing their species with Team Pre-K’s members) abandoned from the last class on the tables in the midst of what appeared to be diaper changing practice. The task on hand was enough to help Team Pre-K ignore them though… that and a promise from Maddie that she’d managed to reserve a proper gym for them to train in later that day. This meeting was just to try and hammer down their tactics for the match before trying to cram in last minute training.

“So, how did you get this info again Petie?” Maddie asked as she looked to the fidgeting teddirusa, the rest of the team directed their attention to him as well. “Um… o-one of Big Top has loose lips and I overheard…” he mumbled, avoiding naming names as best he could while shifting nervously where he sat. “I see…” Maddie said, sounding like she suspected Petie was hiding something… but there were more important matters to attend to “Well either way since we know who they’ll send out first we pretty much know the rest of their line-up, meaning we can plan accordingly…” she said before softly patting Andrew’s head as the pichu blushed timidly “Or should I say Andrew planned accordingly with a little help, I’ll just be explaining it is all.” The stuttering pichu nodded in agreement to Maddie’s statement since, as his team knew by now, long speeches weren’t his strong point due to his stutter and verbal tic… making the miltank his mouthpiece for things like this.

“Since they’re starting with Terrance, you remember the gurdurr right?” pausing for Pre-K to nod Maddie continued “Since they’re staring with him Jules will be our first fighter…” she said, making the bouncing puppy sit up straighter in his chair and grin “He’s the most durable of you… excluding those on the bench.” She added as Jane let out a disinterested grunt and Sammi just grumbled. “He also is good at dealing with heavy damage physical opponents so he should be able to at least hold his own with Terrance…” Maddie trailed off, not sounding completely confident about this… which gave Jules the perfect time to chime in. “And I can show off my Iron Tail and other new moves! I’ve been training with Maddie and Rose!” he boasted proudly, a big, innocent grin on his face. There was a moment of silence as the rest of the team glanced to Maddie and then Petie to see if Jules training had gone well… the fact both avoided their gazes didn’t do much to fill the group with hope. Naturally Jules somehow managed to be completely oblivious to this.

“His counter based style should also mess up Terrances attempts to use Bide as well…” Maddie continued as if Jules hadn’t spoken “We can hope he’ll win… but even if he doesn’t he should be able to at least severely weaken Terrance, meaning Tabitha can finish the fight since she’ll be going next and has a type advantage.” The gothita let out a little eep as Maddie mentioned her, looking down to the folded hands on her lap even as the miltank personally addressed her “You’d said you were going to try and train some last time we met Tabitha, how did that go?” The psychic type didn’t answer her coach’s question immediately and continued to fidget for a moment before timidly biting her puffy lips. “Ummm…” she mumbled weakly, looking away from her coach and teammates… as she remember EXACTLY how it went…

***********************

"I am not exactly a psychic expert you know..."

"B-but I thought you had some experience in the arena..."

"Yes, experience dodging and stalling and abusing Future Sight all I can, rather far from your style don't you think?"

Tabitha felt her little heart sink as she looked at her fellow gothita Toni in realization that her idea to get help from the “more experienced” psychic type might not have been properly thought out. She had left the meeting to find Toni and ask her for help and had managed to catch her friend while she was with her team, Team Modern Fantasy if Tabitha remembered the name right. She didn’t know all of them as well as she probably should but she did know their names, Bree the wailmer, Carrie the yanma, Rex the poochyena, and Al the numel. Shifting nervously Tabitha couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and a little guilty to have intruded on them like this for nothing.

“I see… do you know anyone who might be able to help me?” she finally asked, looking imploringly to them before settling her gaze on Toni “You mentioned you were getting help with your psychic abilities a little while ago… maybe that could help me as well?” Tabitha was grasping at straws now but with the match against Big Top coming up she was desperate. It was only then Tabitha noticed Toni blushing as she stuttered "Um...about that, I'd rather no-" before Carrie threw her arms around her teammate in a big hug and cut her off "Here here! We could never, eeever leave poor widdle Toni without help so we thought, we thought it'd be best for her to go back, all the way back to the basics cause we thought she might not have had proper psychic training~" the yanma buzzed happily, Tabitha head spinning a little trying to keep up since she still wasn’t used to Carrie’s energetic and slightly odd manner of talking.

"She didn't have proper potty training either" Bree commented when Carrie paused for a breath making Toni groan in a mix of annoyance and embarrassment. "Ugh, what was that for Bree!?" she demanded as the wailmer stuck her tongue out in response "Don't tongue your way out of the issue!" Toni protested, stomping her foot a little in annoyance… before Carrie gently silenced her again “Ssshh Toni, dun get mad, Bree's an eenie meanie pants just to tease you” she said, hugging the pouting girl, before continuing “aanyway Tabby-bee, we used a cutie cute book, we used it to get ideas on how to teach and train widdle Toni, and they actually worked!" she declared happily as Toni just mumbled "Carrie, zip it" in response, cheeks bright red with blush at this point.

“A… cute book?” Tabitha asked, catching up with the whole conversation slowly as a sudden realization hit her “Wait… do you mean Baby Steps for Little Psychics?” she asked, recalling the book in question well since it sat on her shelf for a long while unused. Toni’s face flushing tomato red as she looked away from Tabitha seemed to confirm it even as Carrie grinned, popping one arm into her backpack and digging around “Yep! And here it is!” she chirped, pulling out a thick hard bound book with a cute picture of a baby espurr in just a diaper as it sucks a pacifier and levitates some baby blocks plastered on the cover. Toni just bowed her head more, bending over a little at this point, as Tabitha saw the book and wasn’t able to keep herself from blurting out “Yes! That’s the one! Nanny used that to teach me back when I was… a toddler… er…” Tabitha shifted nervously as she realized what she’d said while Toni bent over even more embarrassed beyond reason as she tried to hide her face. Tabitha blushed as well, knowing that pointing out to Toni that she’d bent over enough her gleaming white diaper was starting to peek out from under her skirt would just make things worse…

A soft padding sound caught Tabitha’s attention though as she saw Rex, who moved around on all fours due to some medical reason she wasn’t quite clear on though she knew he was intelligent and sweet-natured despite that, padding over to rescue his tiny teammate from her embarrassment. Which he did by slipping his head down between her legs pony-style, lifting the little girl (who let out a squeak of surprise) up as Toni slid backwards to sit comfortably on Rex’s back. The whole action just exposing Toni’s fluffy white diaper even more as Rex trotted back over to Al, carrying a still surprised Toni along with him.

Carrie immediately flew after them, a concerned look on her face as she asked “Huh? What's wrong Toni, what's wrong? Why did you fetch her Rexie? Is Toni okay?" hugging Toni as she spoke, apparently oblivious to the source of the gothita’s embarrassment. Meanwhile Bree just shook her head, her expression hard for Tabitha to read, before commenting "She's acting less mature than when practicing her powers." Tabitha timidly opened her mouth to try to speak but she was cut off by Al nudging Bree with his elbow making the wailmet glance at the numel and bluntly say "What? All I say is that it was mature of her to ignore her bratty pride and do things the right way even if it was embarrassing." As if it was the simplest thing in the world to see.

"You know it's a sore spot for her, and you could have said that instead and it would have been encouraging" Al countered, as Tabitha had a sinking feeling they’d forgotten that she was there. "She needs to toughen up. You keep treating her the way she looks from day 1." Bree countered, turning and focusing her attention on Al as he replied with "I'm just patient, being nice still gets results and without risk of breaking her." Tabitha watched the debate for a moment more before she decided to forego politely excusing herself for once and just leave before they remembered she was there. As she tiptoed out the she could hear Al and Bree continuing their back-and-forth…

"We're talking about Toni, not fine china."

“Or raw meat.”

"Hmph...we're all made of meat anyway."

****************

“It… didn’t go quite as I had hoped…” Tabitha finally said, not willing to admit to the maginitude of her blunder in front of her teammates. “I see… if you’d like I can try and see if Bridgitte can tutor you on short notice…” Maddie said, though her tone told them she’d just as soon NOT go asking the Banette for assistance… after all the ghost girl was an eccentric to put it nicely. “I… I should be alright.” Tabitha said, flashing the demure, polite, fake smile she’d mastered back at the manor “W-what do I need to do to help the team Maddie?” The miltank just looked at the gothita for a moment in consideration before sighing “Alright, but at least consider the tutoring idea… you have the most important role in this match if all of you want the best chance of winning.” Maddie finally said, Tabitha going noticeable pale in response.

“Having been worn out by Jules Terrance shouldn’t be an issue for you but it’s whose coming next that is the trouble. You’ll be up against Sophie…” their coach continued to explain, Pre-K sitting in rapt attention at this point “I can’t really predict how she’ll fight but since you have Shadow Ball you should be able to deal super effective damage to her… which brings us to the important point.” Maddie paused for dramatic emphasis, locking eyes with Tabitha “She always drops Trick Room before she is defeated if given the chance to set up a lead in for Roy. You CAN NOT let her do this. Without the speed boost he gets from Trick Room you will at least have that advantage over him which, honestly, is probably the best you’re going to get while facing him.” Tabitha gulped audibly as Maddie paused once more “I feel guilty about putting this pressure on you dear but you have to try and defeat Sophie BEFORE she uses Trick Room, do you understand?”

“U-uh huh…” Tabitha stuttered, visibly quaking under the pressure put on her whether Maddie felt guilty about it or not. Before the little gothita could have a panic attack though the miltank suddenly clapped her hands together making all of Team Pre-K jump “Oh yes, I just remembered!” Maddie declared, giving a forced and apologetic looking smile to her little ones “Team Shellshock said the modifications to your uniforms have been finished, I’ll be picking them up before we go to the gym… so you can try them out before the match proper.” She explained, well aware about how the group fell about the kindergartner uniforms they’d been shipped by mistake and the idea of wearing them into the arena.

So it didn’t surprise her when almost the whole team (Jules being the one exception since even Jane joined in) let out a groan in unison.

****************

“So... your match is tomorrow right? Think you've trained enough?”

“You've been to our practices before, what do you think?”

“Right... sorry. Teddy, I'm sure you'll do great.”

The litleo just mumbled a unintelligible response as he sat on the floor of the room Cody shared with his “Little” sister Arya… even if the 5 year old houndour was considerably bigger than her older growlithe brother. As of the moment though she was off attending ballet meaning Cody could hang out with his cousin Teddy in peace. Even if it was kinda embarrassing for Cody to let Teddy see their room… one half a nursery and the other half a little girls room. Cody had been to Teddy’s house before so he knew even the lion cubs juvenile looking bedroom still beat his out maturity wise… which was pretty bad. But while it was embarrassing to have his cousin here it was still better than hanging out at Teddy’s place since Vanessa’s house was right next door and the vulpix would be hovering over them the whole while like she was babysitting toddlers.

Cody had seen firsthand hwo Vanessa treated Teddy and he didn’t like it. She handled the litleo like he was Arya’s age or younger and the growlithe had immediately caught on that Teddy HATED it. This made the tiny diaper puppy angrier than he’d been in a long while, especially when he saw how the rest of Team Big Top and Teddy’s mommy treated him only slightly better. They were completely stifling his little cousin’s potential and stunting his growth! How was Teddy supposed to get better with them treating him like that? The puppy was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as Teddy spoke up.

“… I do kinda hope I get to fight Petie…”

Cody squeaked in surprise, remembering that he’d asked his teddiursa friend to go easy on Teddy “I’m sure it’d be a good fight.” He said getting over the surprise and giving Teddy the best confidence boosting smile he could. His cousin needed all the positive reinforcement he could get. “I met him you know… a couple times this week actually.” Teddy said which caught Cody off guard for a moment since he hadn’t expected the two to run into each other like that… he’d been hoping to introduce them after the match and ask Petie to help him train Teddy. "Really? Cool, how'd you guys get along?" the growlithe asked, hoping they’d hit it off well since that’d make his plan work even better. He didn’t really see the two not getting along… Petie was a pretty likeable guy.

“… dunno… just really wanna see if I can beat him is all. Wanna prove I can beat somebody my grade level who’s kinda like me…”

Cody managed to stifle a chuckle at the mental image of Petie & Teddy being rivals as he smiled to his cousin "I'm sure you'll win, or at the very least kick butt even if you lose." Which made Teddy screw his face up into an adorably perplexed look directed right at the puppy sitting on the toddler bed “Huh? I thought you bragged he was a good fighter. I know I'm not that good but is he really that bad?" A question that made Cody fidget nervously a little, the promise he’d gotten from Petie popping back into his mind as he stuttered out "N-No, I'm just confident in you Teddy!" The big, innocent, incredibly happy expression that broke out across Teddy’s face made Cody feel like a whole changing tables worth of guilt had been dumped on him all at once as the litleo eagerly ask "Really? You really think I can beat him?" and Cody stuttered the first response that came to his mind.

"Of course! 'Specially since he agreed to go eas...y... on... uh-oh..."

Just like that the happy expression was gone as Teddy was staring Cody down with an angry expression the puppy hadn’t seen on his cousin’s face before. “Go easy on? You don’t mean go easy on ME do you?” the litleo growled, getting to his feet and reminding Cody how much bigger than him the lion cub was “Did you ask him to go easy on me Cody!?” he demanded, stomping right over to the growlithe. "T-Teddy, j-just listen for a second!" Cody squeaked, scooting back a little as his cousin towered over him menacingly before Teddy growled “I’m listening.” Desperately Cody stammered out the best explanation he could think of at the moment "I-I just didn't want to see you get hurt! Petie's been battling and training a lot harder and more consistently than you, I was worried!" but just as he finished that sentence Cody let out a frightened yip as Teddy grabbed him under the armpits and hoisted the puppy off the bed and up into the air.

“You don’t think I can battle either!!!” Teddy yelled, almost managing an intimidating roar as Cody yipped in panic his dangling feet kicking the air like an infants. “Vanessa and the team are bad enough but YOU don’t get to treat me like a toddler! You DON’T!” the yelling continued as Cody found himself whimpering under his cousins wrath. He’d never seen Teddy upset like this before… and he’d never dreamed the cub would be strong enough to lift him! He’d been putting on weight too (mommy called it baby fat much to his embarrassment) so it wasn’t that easy either, but here Teddy was hauling him around like an infant as he stomped over to the corner. The corner where…

Cody worried he’d might have filled his diaper in horror as he realized Teddy was heading RIGHT towards the corner where his granny on dad’s side of the family, who refused to believe he wasn’t a baby, had set up her latest “Gift”… a baby bouncer. The puppy let out an undignified squeal as Teddy SLAMMED him into the bouncer hard enough Cody worried he might break it. Unfortunately for the growlithe it held fine as he was sent bouncing up and down wildly like he was on a bungee cord, doing the state of his stomach and his diaper no favors. “If I fight Petie I’m gonna kick his diapered butt so hard he’ll have to relearn how to walk!!” Teddy shouted even as Cody was bouncing too wildly to focus on his cousin “Then you’ll see who needs to go easy on who! Just you watch!!” with that the litleo turned on his paws and stomped out of the room, slamming the door as he left, leaving the whimpering, whining puppy to bounce helplessly like a one year old.

Whimpering with each bounce Cody sniffled, ears and tail hung as low as the bouncing would allow, as he mentally browbeat himself for being a stupid hypocrite. He hadn’t even considered it when he’d asked Petie to go easy on Teddy but he was doing the exact same thing he’d been so angry at Vanessa and Big Top for doing, treating Teddy like he was a little kid in the name of “Protecting” him. It seemed so obvious now that he looked back that Cody couldn’t believe he’d actually done that. Thanks to his days at the orphanage Cody HATED when he was yelled at like that… but he’d deserved that, he’d deserved Teddy being angry at him after what he did. As he bounced helplessly, feet not reaching the floor at all, the growlithe felt more like a stupid baby than he had in a long while. Being stuck in the bouncer till Arya and mommy got home was his punishment for what he did… a fitting punishment for a stupid baby…

He just hoped Teddy wouldn’t still be mad tomorrow when it was time for the match…

*********************

The day of the match had arrived. There was a weak hum of anticipation from the stands. The fight was going to be held in the PCA’s big arena, made for the high profile fights that drew large crowds… unfortunately while Team Pre-K was well known around the school for several reasons they weren’t a group that could draw those kinds of crowds. Because of this the hodge-podge mix of fight fans who’d come to any match, close friends and supporters of Pre-K, and a few people who hoped to see them lose left large gaps in the stands even with Big Top’s small group of supports and fans among them. It was still a sizable crowd for a match involving a freshmen team though, even if the general consensus among the murmurs of the crowd was that the match would be a short one.

Coughing lightly into the microphone for silence the older toxicroak male who was refereeing the match waited for the noise to die down before he began to announce the teams and introduce the fighters… most of the crowd noise save for one small section. The freshman group Team Connell, named after their leader BY their leader, sat in a loose group in the stands. The three Song cousins( a simisear, simisage, and simipour) happened to like Big Top’s fighting style and they also fit into the "Hope to see Pre-K lose" group (though mostly they were hoping to see an entertaining fight) while Smokey the koffing was only there because of his best friend… who happened to be the source of the noise. Particularly when Team Pre-K was announced and entered into the arena.

"Baaahahahah! Team Pampers waddles into the arena!" Nicky Connell the larvitar leader of the team shouted and laughed as he stood up in his seat upon seeing Team Pre-K. The larvitar utterly oblivious to the fact he looked only marginally less childish then Pre-K as he continued with his taunting "Do you think it's Dress Like Your Older Sibling Day? Try not to cry over your booboos when you're hurt!" Meanwhile Smokey groaned, slumping a little in his seat. He already was worried about this matchup since it meant there was a chance OTHER teams, like their team for example, could end up facing older groups just cause there was one freshmen with them… now he had to try and keep Nicky in line, AGAIN. Oblivious to his friends frustration Nicky continued heckling as loud as he could manage.

"Hey Nanny-two-shoes, when they start crying just give them their binkies!" he shouted, turning a little attention to Maddie as she followed behind the group, before continuing shouting at the team proper "Who let the rugrats in anyway? We need better security so these daycare escapees stay where they belong! Some of them already need a change, like the yellow piglet and the care bear!" Nicky jeered, obviously referring to Andrew and Petie. "Hey! Shut up already!" a female voice shouted, startling the larvitar and making him look for the source as Smokey groaned quietly, having known Nicky long enough to know this'd make things worse.

The yeller turned out to be a rather shapely geodude girl sitting alongside a ledian girl, a snorlax guy, and a weavile girl… who waved her claw dismissively in Team Connell's direction. "Just ignore them darling." Daimon "Dai" McCabe, the leader of Team Otaku, said "He's not worth the effort." her tone showing active contempt for the screaming larvitar. Nicky went abruptly silent even as his mouth hung open and one of his eyes twitched noticeably before the larvitar wheeled around, still standing in his seat, to redirect his screaming at her "Not WHAT!? I'm worth far more than whatever your parents spent to get you here, you run-of-the-mill harpy!" he yelled as Smokey cringed and put his head in his hands, not even bothering to look up and see the scene his best friend and team leader was causing now. Though he could hear it clearly enough with the pitch Nicky was reaching.

"Run of the... RUN OF THE MILL?!" Dai shouted, her face having gone red with shock and anger as she hopped to her feet and pointed one clawed hand at Nicky “The scandal!!! I'll have you know my allowance is more than the net worth of your family! And I have the brilliance to earn my place in this team!” she continued yelling as the geodude girl wrapped her arms around Dai’s waist to hold her back “Easy girl. You said he wasn’t worth it.” The rock type comment… and was utterly ignored as Dai yelled “I own stock options in 6 fortune 500 companies and have Silph Co on speed dial to do my Nav's tech support!” which drowned out the ledian girl timidly trying to mention that they’ll miss the fight as the weavile punctuated her rant with another accusing pointing figure and the shout of “I can buy and sell you!”

"Ha!” the larvitar’s laugh was short and condescending “You'd be ignored by a pamphlet dealer in an empty street! In case you didn't get the memo I AM the reason my team even exists!” Nicky bragged, standing in his seat while puffing his chest out and himself up with every word “And I'll have you know my dad has strings all over the congress and can pull them at MY whim without spending a cent!” Smokey just groaned a little where he sat, knowing for a fact that Nicky’s boast was grossly exaggerate even if you were being generous. The larvitar’s father was a suck-up assistant to someone really important and probably didn’t even know most of congress. “Um, Nicky…” the koffing said, tugging his best friends shirt to try and get his attention so he could hopefully stop this… as Nicky completely ignored him and continued his rant “So guess what! Now you fade back into the crowd your mook face came out of, I'll turn around and pick up laughing at the rugrats and their imminent squashing, it's the only thing they're good for!"

“I CAN BUY AND SELL YOU!!!” Dai yelled again, her composure gone as the snorlax guy grabbed hold of her before she could properly leap forward and try to strangle the larvitar. She struggled in his grip for a moment before slumping, her anger looking like it was cooling as she muttered under her breath "…the very lack of couth and refinement. He wouldn't know true untapped potential if it throttled him. I'd call it ghastly, but I don't wish to offend any ghosts that might hear…" only a small snippet of what she was saying was audible as she continued to mumble, her teammates looking relieved that she was calming down. Nicky paused, in the middle of having been sitting back down, and looked back to Dai before commenting "Well, now that's some serious commitment." As he looked like he was going to let it go and sit back down at that…

Before resuming in an almost bored tone "...who was I talking to again? Ah right, the one without any remarkable features.” He puffed his chest out arrogantly again even as he maintained his bored, smug tone “If you're so invested in purchasing me I might have to consider...just keep in mind your parents will adore an ideal son like me, don't take it personal when you become the unfavorite...or are you already that even without any siblings?" There was a flurry of motion as Nicky finished that sentence… mostly from Dai and her teammates as the weavile lurched forward, the glow of an attack in her opening mouth and her teammates grabbed her, the snorlax holding her in a bearhug from behind while the geodude and ledian clapping their hands over her mouth to keep the attack (and whatever cuss words Dai had in mind) from going off.

Dai struggled violently, muffled protests behind heard from behind her teammates hands, as the geodude was the first to speak “Calm down, girl. Geez you're better than that.” She chastised as the ledian spoke next, sound more concerned and less confident than the rock type “He's just be” her voice clicked nervously “being an ass, Dai.” Finally shaking the hands free Dai spoke, her tone surprisingly more level than before but utter rage seeping through every single word as she continued to struggle “No Oooooh no. Bringing my parents into it is crossing the line, shorty. That slander will not stand.” Still hugging her tightly and preventing her escape the snorlax finally spoke up “Now the match will start soon and I don't feel like getting thrown out before I see my buddies battle. If I have to sit on both of you, I will.” His normally closed looking eyes opening slightly to emphasis that he’d carry out his threat if this continued.

“Relax, we all here wanna see the toddlers in action.” Nicky said, his nervous grin and slight scooting in his seat showing he was more intimidated than he was trying to sound. But the nervous grin worked its way into a smug smirk as he kept talking, turning his attention back to the ring “They're usually outmatched enough as it is, but with those uniforms and against sophomores? I can bet the brats won't get past their first opponent!" he finished confidently, just in time for Dai to suddenly shout “It’s a bet!!!” There was a moment of silence, relative to the noise the group had been making before anyway, before Nicky turned to look at Dai his interest visibly piqued "It is? ...so there are stakes, right?"

“If… no, WHEN they win one of the matches here YOU’LL be cheering a different tune, for them, wearing something like that!” Dai declared, pointing to Team Pre-K and obviously referring to their uniforms. Nicky just gave a short dismissive laugh "So after the playpen platoon gets stomped you'll cheer for me while dressed like them? What are you, a half-life archen?” a mocking grin spread across the larvitar’s smug face “Come on, you would BENEFIT from a retarded costume, it'd just draw attention. Why not make it so the loser -aka you- gets so much attention that they'll want to hide in a manhole and not peek back up until Christmas?" he said, his tone telling how much he enjoyed the idea of publicly humiliating Dai if only cause she was talking back to him.

“Fine then!” Dai snapped, too mad to spare any more words than needed, before pointing a claw at Nicky again “Winner picks the losers outfit then if their uniform isn’t good enough for you!” she declared as the Larvitar just sneered "Only the outfit? I say we include underwear and makeup!” he boasted, pointing on finger back at Dai as he stood on his seat for height and dominance “That way you'll be the most notorious and embarrassing baby clown cheerleader ever! I wanna see you crave attention after THAT!" by now all of Nicky’s team was staring at him, the monkey trio cause he was messing up them getting to watch the match and Smokey cause he remember the LAST time Nicky had made a bet like this. “Deal! You’ll be in the poofiest padding I can find for their next match!” Dai snapped in response before letting her friends coax her back to her seat.

Plopping back down on his butt Nicky folded his arms and grinned confidently "Pay attention. Smokey, to the landslide of the century. In about 10 minutes the infirmary will look more like a nursery." He said, his poison type friend just quietly hanging his head and hoping this didn’t backfire on Nicky like… well… most things like this that the larvitar did…

*********************

Despite the noise in the stands, and Pre-K being able to recognize Nicky's reedy voice and childish insults, the prep for the match continued unhindered as the ref finished his pre-fight hold items check. "Alright, the match will begin shortly." the toxicroak said, pulling a slip of paper from his pocket and reading off it "The first fighters will be Jules Elapsi from Team Pre-K and Terrence Dosukoi from Team Big Top." Pocketing the paper with the first fighters names on it he continued even as the two fighting types stepped forward from their respective sideline bench "The rules for the match format are simple, whenever a fighter faints the team captain or remaining team members select their next combatant. The first team without any remaining fighters loses." he explained, both out of formality and for the audience, before looking to Jules and Terrance "Are both fighters ready?"

"… sorry, match wasn't my call…" Terrance said, lightly rotating his girder like a bo-staff before leveling it off and taking a fighting pose "Will try not to hurt you too bad, do your best okay?" the gurdurr added as he looked at Jules… who was bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet eagerly. "Don't worry about me~" the riolu said briskly, a completely unconcerned smile on his face "I will an I'm tougher than I look~" At that comment Jules dropped into a fighting stance vaguely similar to a karate stance, still grinning. Looking between the two for a moment the toxicroak took this as a non-verbal statement of being ready before nodding.

"Alright, BEGIN!!"

Jules immediately sprang into motion at that word… and began pumping his arms in an almost cheerleader like routine "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" He cheered with each motion, making a pair of pom-pons all the was missing from the look as his body glowed a little as he completed his Work-Up routine. Terrance meanwhile moved at a more ponderous speed, spinning his girder again and puffing his chest out as he stood like some kind of castle guard as if inviting Jules to take a shot at him. Instead the roil giggled and glowed for a moment, dancing on his heels briefly before taking a pose identical to Terrance's. There was a moment of silence before the gurdurr spoke.

"… why did you Copycat my Bide?"

"Cause~"

The toxicroak ref meanwhile just put his head in one hand and groaned, muttering about it being one of THOSE matches. The stands seemed to go quiet as well to match the lack of motion happening as the two fighters just stood their staring at each other. Finally after almost two minutes there was a brief glow around Terrance that sputtered out pitifully as he hefted his gurdur up again "You're gonna do that every time I use Bide, aren't you?" he asked briskly, sounding more amused that anything else, while flexing his arms and puffing his chest out as both swelled up thanks to Bulk Up. "Yep~" Jules answered as the glow appeared around him and sputtered out as well, both Bides failing due to not having soaked up any damage "Bet that'll keep you from using it righYIPE!" the roil leaped a couple feet straight up in the air as Terrance took a swing at him with considerable force.

"Sorry then, still working on managing my force in a FIGHT!" the gurdurr said, managing to slide forward with the force of his swing and drive a Force Palm into Jules's middle while the riolu was still airborne shouting his last word to emphasis the blow "So gonna have to end this quick before you get hurt!" Terrance added as most of the audience winced, the force of the blow having carried Jules halfway across the arena like he'd been shot for a cannon. Instead of crashing into the ground and tumbling to a stop though Jules caught himself and rolled, skidding to a stop in a kneeling position instead of in a heap. Getting to his feet Jules was rubbing his stomach and panting to try and get air back into his lungs, but his grin remained even as he didn't return banter this time. Watching the lumbering gurdurr charging him Jules slide back into his fighting stance, completely undeterred.

The crowd was cheering now as the fight had finally heated up with the two fighting types going at it hard. Clangs rang out as Jules used his incomplete Iron Tail to meet Terrance's girder swings and smack them away, keeping Terrance from launching him across the arena again like the first blow had. Meanwhile whenever the older fighting type did managed to land a hit Jules used Counter to smack him right back. The riolu was using his superior speed and agility coupled with his smaller size to compete against the bigger, slower, and more lumbering fighting type. Unfortunately even if Jules was faster and more agile than Terrance the sophomore had the riolu beat in virtually every other category which became increasingly obvious as the match went on. All Jules had managed to do with his blocking and countering was turn the fight into an endurance contest… and just looking at the two made it obvious who was winning that contest.

Panting as his legs shook a little Jules was visibly ragged from the Rock Slides and blunt impact moves he'd taken during the match while Terrance was nowhere near as hurt even if he was starting to show some wear from the Counters he'd been hit with. "Alright…" the gurdurr said, grasping his girder at the bottom with both hands and hoisting it up in a batting position as he loomed over the riolu "You are tougher than you look… still, sorry about this. GO LONG!" he yelled, swinging the iron construction material forward with Knock Off like he was trying to hit a homerun. Jules seemed to bring his arms up to braced himself right before impact… but the whole arena seemed to flinch at the noise as the blow struck home, Terrance included. As his swing completed its arch the gurdurr stood there, eyes still shut, as he waited for the second thud noise of Jules crashing into the arena wall… and waited… and waited as the only sound he heard was the murmurs of the crowd.

"D… did I hit him into the stands?" he finally asked, sounding genuinely concerned, as he opened his eyes to see if he could spot where Jules had landed. It was then Terrance noticed the panting sound coming from next to him where he was holding his girder. Sporting an utterly dumbfounded look for the second time in the match the fighting type looked to find Jules, battered and bruised as he was, CLINGING to the end of his weapon, the weak glow of a spend Endure around the riolu's body. In the time it took Terrance to realize the riolu had used Endure to tank the hit and grabbed ahold of the gurdur to keep from being launched away by the blow Jules let go dropped to his feet, and threw himself against Terrance's back, locking his paws around it and hurling himself backwards with strength his small body seemed incapable of, dragging the gurdurr along with him. By the time Terrance realized what Jules was doing it was too late to try and stop it as the riolu swung with his force, carrying the sophomore along for the ride, and slammed his opponent's head hard into the arena floor with a suplex styled Reversal.

There was a brief moment of silence in appreciation of how ridiculous the sight was… a tiny, kindergarten looking kid managing to suplex a burly, muscular, top-heavy looking guy who was probably twice his size into the ground… before they exploded into cheers as Jules dropped unceremoniously off Terrance's back and weakly crawled away to keep the gurdurr from flopping onto him when gravity caught up with the sophomore. Plopping on his bottom and panting the riolu stared as his opponent flopped onto his back, iron girder dropped sometime during the suplex and laying off to the side, and lay there either stunned or unconscious. The look on Jules's face made it obvious he was praying for the later option since he'd apparently spent all he'd had left with that last move. A feeling made more obvious when Jules nearly jumped out of his skin as Terrance groaned… but didn't move. Likewise the riolu didn't bother to hide his relief when the ref came over and, after checking Terrance to be sure, made the declaration.

"Terrance is unable to battle, Jules of Team Pre-K has won the round!"

*************************

Nicky’s jaw hit the floor so hard it was a wonder nothing was damaged while the larvitar’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at that announcement. His desperate and squeaking attempts to argue that the match didn’t count were drowned out by the cheers of the audience and Dai let out a long “Muwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!” that would have made any cartoon villain proud as the weavile was positively giddy with victory. "...w-w-wait! That-that gotta be a fluke!” Nicky stammered, visibly flailing in panic “Yes, definitely a fluke! Come on, you didn't think he'd go down with the first brat either! Come on, this is too obviously an accident! It can't count, can it?" he said, almost begging… as the assembled group just stared at him in silence, making their disagreement obvious.

Going a little pale the larvitar’s eyes darted back and forth as if looking for some way out of this… before widening a little as if he’d gotten an idea. "Hey, h-how about this!? Double or nothing!” he squeaked, leaning forward towards Dai as he frantically stammered his explanation before she could ask what else he had to bet “I-if another of the sophomores goes down, I'll p-pay my bet over t-two matches instead of one! If not, w-we can pretend the bet n-never happened! W-what do you say?" he finished, giving a pleading grin to replace his smug one from earlier. The smug smile had instead moved to Dai’s face as she shook her head, slowly as if to savor the moment “Oooooo deary you don't understand. I know how heroes always win against the righteous villians. Do you?”

Nicky could just look confused, even more desperation creeping into his expression as Dai continued, shaking one claw at him like she was lecturing a child “They over play and never keep their eyes on the goal. I won. You lost. Why tempt the Jirachi?” with a grin the weavile let out another, short evil laugh as she clicked her claws together in anticipation “Mwahahaha! Mmmm I should call my butler to find the blushiest pampers he could find…” The larvitar, having gone sheet white at that last comment, stuttered out "...s-so y-you agree it was a fluke...stupid babies getting lucky...you know well they won't get lucky twice..." in a weak, pitiful squeak trying to bait Dai into accepting the bet…

“IT’S A BET!” the geodude girl suddenly shouted, popping up next to Dai as the startled weavile sat bolt upright in shock and asked the obvious question “Wait, WHAT!?” The rock type just grinned to her friend “Come on girl, they are in the zone.” her only explanation. The weavile stared for a moment then slunk where she sat, obviously not willing to argue, and muttered about over-eager henchmen… as Nicky let out a breath of relief big enough to deflate a driftblim and collapsed back in his seat. Absolutely confident that he’d managed to worm his way out of the mess he’d gotten into…

After all, what were the chances another sophomore would lose to Pre-K?

*************************

"… you sure you're going to continue to the next match? You are allowed to bow out in-between and go to the nurse, you know that right?"

"I-I'm good… really…"

The toxicroak ref just gave Jules a look as the riolu teetered as if a stiff breeze would be enough to push him down before shaking his head and muttering about stupid kids. After sparing the wobbling riolu one more glance the toxicroak called out "Will Team Big Top's next fighter step forward please?" as Sophie all but bounced out of Big Top's sidelines and skipped towards the middle of the arena, the decently sized box that was her hold item tucked under her arm. "Hi~" she chirped happily, swaying on her feet as she came to a stop in front of Jules. He was about to return the greeting but the mime jr. went right on talking "That was a nice match you had there… too bad Terrance went easy on you~" she said, her tone light and casual… almost sounding amused by what had happened "We don't perform with kids often, guess it is hard like they say… if he hadn't flinched during his last swing he would have seen what you did and stopped you~" Jules blinks as he processed what she'd just said, apparently not having noticed that in the head of battle… as she continued unhindered and oblivious to the riolu.

"But it's okay, means I get to share the stage with you for a dog act… well a puppy act anyway~ Looks like it'll be a short one though, you're all tuckered out~" she said, leaning down to coo at Jules as he staggered back a little. The dawning realization that he'd gotten really lucky in his last match and trying to keep up with what Sophie was saying being a little more than he could handle while exhausted. "It's no fun with your scene partners all pooped out, there's no comedy or show in a match with an exhausted baby…" Sophie sounded genuinely disappointed as she shook her head "Oh well, will have you off-stage in a moment for the next act~ Oh and i'm ready Mr, Referee~" she suddenly chirped making Jules blink as if just remember this was supposed to be a match. "R-ready?" he stammered, bringing his paws up in a poor fighting stance as the toxicroak, who was rubbing the bridge of what would be his nose in annoyance at how long Sophie has rambled, held up his microphone and let out a half-hearted "Begin."

Still distracted by everything she’d said Jules barely managed to curl his shaking paws into fists before Sophie was point blank with him, having left the box (whatever type of hold item it was) on the ground where she’d been standing. The puppy let out an undignified YIP of panic as the mime jr. reached out and… patted his head. “Bet you’re ready Iron Tail, huh~?” Sophie said, giggling a little as Jules stared, blinked, and stared in a very understated version of a double-take (since he lacked the energy for anything bigger). “After all, fighting moves don’t do much against a half fairy type right~?” the tone for the question was patronizing, as if making sure a young child knew some pre-school caliber piece of knowledge like their ABCs. Unfortunately judging by the look on Jules’s face he’d been so focused on not collapsing and Sophie’s ramblings from earlier the thought of which move to use hadn’t even occurred to him.

As he stood there dumbfounded, his legs shaking, the mime jr. just smiled sweetly before taking a twirling half-step so she stood next to the riolu. “Why don’t you go take your nap-time and think on it~?” Sophie said sweetly, dark-type energy gathering around one of her hands as she patted Jules’s bottom with Thief like you’d do to get a young child moving “Go on now~ Off to dreamland~” The pat was light but Jules went down like a sack of diapers. Collapsing forward flat on his nose as it added to all the damage he’d taken while fighting Terrance and pushed him over his limit. “Jules is unable to battle, Sophie of Team Big Top has won the round…” the referee said in a dull tone, having obviously seen how this match was going to go from the start, before lowering the microphone and adding a slightly annoyed “and waste much more time talking kid and it’s a penalty for your team, not to mention your grade.” directed at Sophie as the clown ignored him in favor of waving bye-bye to Jules as the medics carried the riolu out.

"Ugh… will Team Pre-K’s next fighter step forward please?" the toxicroak called, trying to hurry things along. There was no noise for a moment outside the murmur of the crowd, who seemed to be having trouble deciding whether the last match was hilarious, pitiful, or a time-wasting letdown, before one of the small mon finally left their sideline and timidly came forward. Tabitha’s little yellow shoes softly thudded on the arena floor as she walked towards the referee and her opponent, desperately trying to hide the tremble of fear going through her. She’d sparred with her team members under Maddie’s watchful eye before but this was her first official match against someone as a member of the team AND in the big arena… she was sure as a member of the battle major she was supposed to be excited about this but with all the butterfree and beautifly in her stomach all she felt was very ill.

Standing there watching Sophie as the sophomore girl picked up the box she’d set down earlier the gothita felt as if there was something she was forgetting. A feeling that intensified as the already annoyed referee cleared his throat and gave her a look as Tabitha hid her panic (hiding your emotion under a calm mask was one of the few useful skills her family had taught her) and racked her brain. What was she forgetting? She was in a match, pre-match ceremony; there was something before the fight started… what was it… “Oh!” Tabitha blurted out, FINALLY remember her Frisk ability. She could use it to discern what hold item her opponent was carrying before the match, a bit like precognition. She just to needed to focus on the box and she should be able to see… what… it was? Blinking Tabitha’s masked failed and let her obvious confusion show through. She had to be using her ability wrong since there was no logical reason what was in the box could be considered a hold item… at least, not any she knew about.

“What…?” the gothita started to ask… only to be cut-off by Sophie spinning the box on her finger like a basket-ball and stopping it so Tabitha could see the crank on the side. “It’s a Lucky Punch~” the mime jr said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before turning the crank on what Tabitha now recognized as a jack-in-the-box. There were a few notes of what might have been Pop-goes-the-Weavile before the top popped open and a pair of boxing gloves on springs came bouncing out, confirming what Tabitha’s Frisk had revealed. Sophie meanwhile just grinned proudly as the two boxing gloves flailed around wildly for a moment before hanging loosely on their springs. “…… is that an actual hold item and is that… thing actually legal?” Tabitha finally asked after a moment of silence, looking to the ref who fortunately seemed to consider this a reasonable question since it didn’t annoy him further. “Lucky Punch, it’s a hold item for Chansey… and yeah it’s legal, weird but legal.” The toxicroak said before clearing his throat “Now, if both fighters are read”

“Aaaawwww, what’s wrong~? Thought little kids liked jack-in-the-boxes~” Sophie cooed, cutting the referee off as his neck ballooned out in annoyance. “Guess you can be the whiteface this time, I’ll be the auguste~ … oh, um… sorry?” Sophie said as she was rewinding the springs back down, only realizing she’d cut off the ref at the end of her sentence as she’d snapped the lid of the box shut again. There was a slight huff from the Toxicroak as he said “One more interruption and it’s a penalty, now are both fighters ready?” his tone signaling that the nonsense was to end. Tabitha gulped nervously and squeaked “R-ready!” while Sophie just seemed to pout about things getting serious before nodding “Ready.” Taking another moment to compose himself the poison type took a deep breath “Alright… BEGIN.” He shouted as Tabitha immediately brought her hands up in the channeling and focusing posture she used for her moves…

As there was a clatter as Sophie threw the box down at the gothita’s feet with a Fling… making it pop open as the Lucky Punch came flying out wildly. Tabitha didn’t have time to react as one glove grazed her cheek and the other drove itself hard into her stomach, sending the tiny psychic type flying backwards onto her butt. Groaning and sitting up she was only vaguely aware of the jack-in-the-box construct exploding in a small burst (complete with confetti of all things) due to Fling destroying the item used for it as she held her stomach in pain. Clenching her teeth and trying to ignore the pain Tabitha rose back to her feet as quickly as she was able and held her hands in front of her in the praying/meditating style position from before. Her body glowed softly as Calm Mind washed over the gothita, helping her maintain her focus despite the pain and humiliation…

Though annoyance was starting to creep in with the other two since, despite Tabitha’s best attempts to tune her out, Sophie STILL would not shut up! “Bet you don’t know what whiteface OR auguste clowns are, do you~? Dooooooon’t worry, I’ll be happy to teach you!” the mime jr. called in a sing-song tone, going through a ridiculous set of exaggerated pantomime gestures and poses as she did so “It’s from the circus~ The whiteface clowns are the serious, composed, leaders of the clowns… the ones who THROW the pies and tells the jokes…~” she chirped, mimicking an exaggerated throwing gesture and swinging her arms momentum to pirouette herself in place. Spinning fully around a few times before suddenly stopping and gesturing like she was pulling something from behind her back… as with a POP noise she did, yanking an identical copy of her jack-in-the-box out of thin air “While the auguste, or red, clowns are the ones who get the jokes pulled on them and get hit with the pies~ The funny man to the whiteface’s straight man if you want to grossly over-simplify and misconstrue it~”

Thanks to watching Jane practice Tabitha was aware of how Recycle worked so she immediately recognized what Sophie had done despite all the unnecessary babble the clown had been spewing. The psychic types body glowed once more as she used another Calm Mind and tried to focus on keeping her mind on the match. Since there was probably nothing else that hold item could do for her, the referee had said it was only good for chanseys after all, this meant Sophie was going to use Fling again. All Tabitha had to do was try and focus on dodging that and she’d be able to go on the offense… “Hey, are you listening~? You know, there’s another role in comedy…. It’s called a stooge~” Sophie called out, stopping her dance to directly address Tabitha, a big grin on the mime jr.’s face “Like the little girl who sets herself up to get caught in Encore so she’d lose the match without even getting to attack~”

Tabitha froze in place and she realized Sophie was right, a moment of horrifying clarity on what might happen if she got caught like that eclipsing the gothita’s mind… just in time for a familiar clattering noise to catch her attention before the flung Lucky Punch hammered into her again this time smacking her in the chest and leg. Knocked onto her butt again not in the two Calm Minds could keep Tabitha from seeing red as she heard the jack-in-the-box explode again and saw the confetti. Despite her appearance she considered herself a proper, serious young lady and there was only SO MUCH silliness and annoyance she could take! Springing to her feet, with some trouble since her body was aching badly, Tabitha clapped her hands in front of her as a swirling ball of dark and purple colored energy sparked to life between them. Letting the Shadow Ball grow, first to baseball size then basketball size, Tabitha swung her arm back and HURLED it at Sophie instead of calmly launching it like she normally did. In her anger the gothita was hoping it’d wipe that smile off the clowns face, or at least keep her from opening her mouth again as the attack hurtled towards the mime jr…

Who swayed and hop-stepped to the side like she’d tripped over something, dodging the attack completely as it flew right past her. For a moment Tabitha wondered if that’d just been dumb luck on Sophie’s part, but the broad grin on the clown’s face told differently. Too angry to let that dissuade her Tabotha hurled another Shadow Ball at Sophie, weaker this time so it could be launched faster, followed by another and another. Much to her frustration though Sophie slipped, tripped, and danced out of the way of the attacks using comedic pratfalls before grinning and, much to Tabitha shock, clapped her hands in front of her producing a Shadow Ball of her own. With an un-ladylike squeak of panic the gothita dove to the side and barely avoid getting hit by the attack as she racked her brain since she’d be almost sure Sophie didn’t know that move.

Tabitha felt stupid a second later when she realized Sophie DIDN’T know Shadow Ball… she knew Copycat and was just imitating her attack. “What’s wrong, thought you wanted to play catch~? All tired out already?” the sing-song voice called, once again fraying Tabitha’s already spent patience. “Fine, CATCH!” she yelled, something she have been ashamed of doing if she’d been more clear headed, before throwing another Shadow Ball at Sophie. Only to have the attack met head on by the mime’s Copycatted version resulting in a small explosion. This repeated a few times, Sophie’s big grin showing she was more or less playing around with their little “Shooting Gallery”… but even as angry as she was Tabitha had enough awareness to notice her spheres were, on average, larger that Sophie’s and pushing the sophomore’s attacks back. Meaning she had more force behind her attacks, probably thanks to her using Calm Mind earlier. More-over the mime wasn’t launching her attack until AFTER Tabitha threw hers… which, coupled with remembering how a sparring match between Petie and Jules she’d watched had gone, gave Tabitha an idea.

Planting her feet and clapping her hands together in the same pose she’d used to launch her Shadow Ball Tabitha took a deep breath… and used Calm Mind instead. Sophie skidded to a stop mid step of the little dance she’d been doing and blinked, a look of surprise finally crossing her face… which lasted about a second before the grin returned “Nice, change moves on the spot and trip up Copycat expectations~ You’re earning your gold sticky star~” the tone was a mix of congratulatory and patronizing as she held her hand out and did a mocking bow. Annoyance at Sophie’s antics aside Tabitha couldn’t help but feel disappointed her “Clever Idea” was figured out that easily. Just in time for a blast of psychic energy to launch from Sophie’s outstretched hand and knock Tabitha right on her butt again with Confusion.

If Sophie said anything else Tabitha was finally mad enough to not bother listening as she hopped up and charged the biggest Shadow Ball she could managing, the sphere reaching beach ball sizes now, before clumsily hurling it at her foe. Not caring how much energy she was burning or that the size of the attack blocked her field of vision Tabitha charged and threw one Shadow Ball after another, hoping size and force would somehow overwhelm Sophie’s dodging ability resulting in a salvo of blasts where the mime jr. had been before. Panting and pausing to catch her breath Tabitha watched the smoke clearing, searching for any sign of her, now surprisingly silent, opponent. Finally she heard motion and saw a dark shape rising up among the smoke… which cleared to reveal and battered but grinning Sophie.

“Remember t-that stooge thing I mention before~?” Sophie asked, giving a light sounding giggle as she swayed side to side “It’s a comedy s-scene partner who functions a-as a means t-to make the comic look better and b-be the butt of his jokes…” there was a pop sound as the clown pulled one more jack-in-the-box out of thin air. It was then Tabitha realized how tired she felt… and how much of her stamina she’d burned off with that barrage of attacks and her lost temper. Her mind raced as she wondered how much energy she had left, if this was Sophie’s plan all along, and what would happen if she went on to the next match. All these thoughts were eclipsed by a more prudent one though… she didn’t want to get hit with that darn Lucky Punch Fling again and since Sophie pulled the box back out Tabitha needed to take her down before she could throw it!

Pulling from every scrap of energy she hadn’t spent in her earlier barrage Tabitha created the biggest Shadow Ball she could manage and lugged it towards Sophie with all her might… as time seemed to slow down for the gothita. She could clearly hear Sophie speaking as there was a shimmering in the air “Sorry… l-looks like you were t-the auguste clown AND the s-stooge…” the shimmering manifested into a blue energy that blanketed the entire arena in a dome that seemed to fluctuate for a moment “J-jokes on you~” Sophie finished as the Trick Room solidified into a circus tent like shape just as the Shadow Ball struck home and exploded. Tabitha just stood there, utterly dumbfounded and oblivious to the world as the referee called the match. All that was going through her head was what she’d been told at Pre-K’s last strategy meeting… that her most important job was to take Sophie out BEFORE she used Trick Room.

Her chest heaving softly and her body trembling a little from all the power she’d used up the gothita couldn’t help but wonder how much of that match had been planned out from the start. She’d KNOWN Sophie wasn’t taking it serious pretty early in but had all that babbling and annoyance been part of a plan? Even in hindsight what the sophomore had been saying about clowns and comedy made sense in a mean way… it’d been a big joke. A big joke the mime jr. had been playing on Tabitha instead of trying to win the match. How the heck were the teachers supposed to grade something that bizarre!? Beyond that Sophie’s “joke” had exhausted Tabitha, tricked the gothita into letting Sophie set up a fresh Trick Room for her teammate, and… and…

The dawning realization hit Tabitha just as she tuned in enough to hear the referee call out "Will Team Big Top's next fighter step forward please?" and saw the teammate Sophie had just helped stepping into the arena. She should have tried to mask her terror as the towering sealeo walked over to her but between remembering how he decimated an entire team by himself and avoiding having an accident like Petie or Toni from sheer fear Tabitha couldn’t manage it. “Sorry about Sophie, she can get carried away with her shows…” Roy said, his smooth, jovial, bass voice belying the amount of fear he’d put into his freshmen opponent “But anyway looks like we’re gonna be fighting each other! You know, you guys kinda remind me of my little cousin Patrice…” the broad smile on the ice types face was almost reassuring as he loomed over Tabitha… the gothita gulping in terror as he finished his sentence.

“So don’t worry… I’ll try and make this as quick and painless as possible, okay?”


To Be Continued…