Hey everybody... things not going well here but managed to finish this chapter for your enjoyment (or horror... you'll see what I mean)

For those of you who missed parts 1 - 4 they're linked below for your convenience

Part 1: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18411244/
Part 2: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18597400/
Part 3: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18964077/
Part 4: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19180157/

The match enters its final round... now, in most forms of media the final round of these kind of competitions, especially if it's a grudge match between two rivals, is a glorious, epic worth affair as two fighters give it there all to defeat their opponent and seize victory from their opponent. Complete with beautifully choreographed shots and blows finishing with an elegant crosscounter as one fighter falls... before the fighters shake each other hands ending the match with no hard feelings or regrets...

This will not be that. You have been warned...

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

Cody owned by  ozzie-boxer
Team Connell and Modern Fantasy owned by  takinoue
Team Otaku owned by  asuraludu
Greninja Girls & Jolteon owned by  xehta13
Other characters owned by me (unless I forgot to mention somebody)
Pokémon NOT owned by me

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PCA – Grand Finale
Team Pre-K vs Team Big Top
Part 5



To be completely honest Cody hadn’t been paying attention to what had been happening in the match at all. The tiny growlithe was so wrapped up in his guilt and emotional conflict that what Vanessa and her friends were saying went completely over his head even as he sat there in her lap fidgeting and trying his hardest not to look. The puppy wasn’t even aware what round of the match it was or who was left on either side… which made the referee’s next announcement come as a horrifying surprise to the puppy.

“Final round! Petie of Team Pre-K vs Theodore of Team Big Top!”

Cody’s rounded ears immediately perked up at those words… then flattened against his head as his tail tucked itself between his legs and he started to tremble softly. Even though he was still horribly conflicted over which side he wanted to win the tiny fire type had been sure of one thing, he didn’t want Petie and Teddy to fight. He really didn’t want them to fight so he wouldn’t have to fully face up to how badly he’d messed up and how dumb he’d been. Now his worst nightmare was coming true and he had a front row seat for it. A soft, pitiful whimper escaped Cody’s trembling lips as he saw Teddy walking into the arena.

“Hey Vanessa? What’s wrong with your baby puppy cousin?”

The sudden question, asked by Vanessa’s litleo friend, jarred Cody enough to turn his attention back to the girls as his vulpix cousin lightly bounced him on her lap while answering “Oh, I think he’s just upset cause he doesn’t know who to cheer for is all Amber, he got one of his best friends on one side and his cousin on the other after all…” too curled up to resist as Vanessa turned him on her lap Cody found himself looking up at the fox as she smiled sweetly to him “Why don’t you cheer on Petie, okay~? I can handle cheering for Teddy~” she cooed down at him like he was a toddler. This set off alarm bells in Cody’s head since he’d expected Vanessa to ask for him to cheer on Teddy with her or be panicking over the lion cub having to fight or something other than the calm, if clueless to the puppy’s misery, acceptance she was showing. Confused the conflicted growlithe tried to express with a coherent question… but only managed to produce a timid little “Erf?”

“Huh, I thought you’d be a little more worried about your baby brother fighting?” the braixen spoke up, managing to ask the question Cody couldn’t. This made Vanessa giggle as she snuggled Cody closely again, the guilt wracked puppy weakly squirming in his grip “No, no, it’s fine… he’s up against a little one his grade after all.” the vulpix explained, Cody having no choice but to listen and every word increasing his guilt tenfold “I don’t LIKE the idea of Teddy fighting… but he is in the battle major so it’s going to happen whether I want it to or not. A least when he’s against another freshman it means they’re both on equal footing and the referee will be keeping an extra close watch on them in case something goes wrong.” She paused for a moment as all this sank into Cody’s mind and he felt more than a little ill. “Besides” Vanessa chirped, continuing unaware how Cody was feeling “He’s up against a little cutie like Petie so I’m sure this’ll just be a friendly match after all, a little playground competition between friends~”

Hearing that and knowing what he’d done was the latest crushing blow for the puppy. If he could have Cody would have curled up and regressed back into an egg just to escape this new layer of guilt Vanessa had piled on him… seeing the ref about to start the match the growlithe found himself praying that he HAD an accident for once and need someone to go change him. ANYTHING to get away from this… as another whimper escaping his lips when he heard the ref shout out…

“Are both fighters ready?”

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

Team Pre-K’s bench was mostly quiet, partially because they were only two people on it since Jane hadn’t come back from checking on Andrew yet, as they watch the nurse’s finally manage to wake Petie up from his last Rest. Maddie was breathing a deep sigh of relief, one of her hands against her chest to try and steady her pounding heart. She felt a mix of shock and amazement that Andrew’s strategy had worked despite having been created on such short notice… along with an incredibly amount of relief that Petie had gotten through all that without any major injuries, broken bones, or the numerous other things she’d imagined might result from he and Andrew’s plan. As hard as she tried to keep the fact Pre-K were teenagers in mind it was a reflex the miltank had to think of them like her little brothers and sisters back at the orphanage… sweet, fragile little ones who needed watching over. Because of that she worried and fretted over them more than a coach was really supposed to…

The only member of Team Pre-K still on the bench, Sammi the dratini, didn’t quite share her coach’s relief though. If anything Sammi was annoyed and flustered for multiple reasons, the biggest one being stuck on the bench and not able to fight in this match… which she failed at hiding due to her long serpent tail swishing and twitching in pent up frustration. Now she had two more things to further her sulking… the fact she was impressed with her teammates, and desperately trying to hide it, and that she couldn’t tease Petie about how utterly stupid his Bulk Up made him look due to the teddiursa actually having WON that match. Watching the fat bear toddle over to retrieve his hat for a moment Sammi tried to turn her attentions elsewhere, if only to pout and sulk where her teammates (or teammate and coach in this case) wouldn’t notice… as her eyes fell on Team Big Top’s last fighter.

Usually she’d have written him off as another short, fluffy kid who looked like he couldn’t take a punch… but there was one slightly unnerving thing she couldn’t turn her gaze away from. “Sammi?” the dratini tried to come up with some way to deny having jumped a little due to be startled when Maddie mentioned her name, to limited success, as the miltank spoke again “Are you okay? You look… concerned about something.” Maddie’s tone made it obvious how rare an expression concern was for Sammi. Sitting there, still slightly pink cheeked with embarrassment from jumping, the dragon type debated lying or telling Maddie to mind her own business, or just ignoring the question… but her track record doing those with Maddie was miserable so she decided to just tell the truth. “…….” Opening her mouth for a moment Sammi blinked and then shut it again as she realized she had NO clue how to actually explain this to somebody who hadn’t grown up in her home village.

“… um…” Sammi’s cheeks having gone even pinker as she struggled for a moment to think of how to phrase this “T-the kids eyes… I’ve seen that look before.” She finally manage, trying to hide being flustered at her struggle to explain “Back home in the village I saw adults with that kinda look in their eyes when they were challenging my mom for leadership.” Her mother being the strongest dragonite in the village and therefore its leader “T-those were way different from the fights here, it was like they were fighting to the death and really trying to hurt or kill the other guy…” Sammi trailed off, biting her lip as she saw the look Maddie was giving her “Er… f-fight to the death and kill might not be right words…” she stammered, wrapping her tail around herself as if for comfort.

“Alright Sammi, then what are you trying to say? What kind of look does he have in his eyes?” Maddie asked, apparently willing to be patient with the tongue tied dratini. “It’s like… like…” the little dragon was flustered with her inability to describe this, and like most things this made her angry as she groaned in frustration “Like he’s got something really big to prove and he’s gonna beat Petie to a pulp to prove it! Something bigger than just winning the fight!” she finally blurted out before slumping in her seat and sulking, more frustrated than before. Maddie just blinked at this little outburst, turning back to look at the arena with a concerned expression “What could he possibly have to prove though?” she wondered aloud, putting a hand to her lips in a gesture of worry as she watched the toxicroak referee about to start the match.

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

“Are both fighters ready?

Nodding slightly Petie adjusted his hat nervously as he looked at Teddy. He didn’t have a clue what he’d done since they’d last talked to warrant the glowering look the litelo was giving him but it didn’t fill the teddiursa with confidence. Having just woken up from Rest he didn’t feel tired exactly… but he felt REALLY worn down as his whole body ached under the layers of baby fat Bulk Up had put on him. He honestly couldn’t remember how many of his attacks he’d used up trying to beat Roy… meaning he had no idea how much he had left. Coupled with Teddy’s glare Petie had a sneaking suspicion he was going to have a rough time in this last match… a thought that finished crossing his mind as Teddy nodded curtly to the referee’s question.

“Alright, BEGIN!!”

Petie let out a squeal of pain as Teddy more-or-less THREW himself at the bear cub and dug flaming teeth into his shoulder with Fire Fang, knocking Petie to the ground hard in the process. Luckily the thick layers of baby fat from Bulk Up bolstering his defense kept the move from hurting as bad as it could have… till the lion cub dug his teeth into shoulder, refusing to relax his bite as Petie felt the flames licking at him and responded like anyone would. With an unrestrained scream of pain as he lashed out and slugged Teddy in the side of the head with Feint Attack as hard as he could to make him let go. The move worked as Teddy got his teeth out of Petie’s shoulder and rolled away, clutching his head in pain.

“Penalty card! Both of you! Unnecessary roughness!” The toxicroak ref barked out since purposefully trying to break skin with a bite and rabbit punches (aka any kind of blow to the back-side/back of the head or neck) were both as illegal as could be. Though being freshmen neither boy was really expected to “know better”, especially in the heat of battle, so they had some leeway. Not that either of them was paying attention to that… Petie was scrambling to his feet clutching his injured shoulder and Teddy was down on three limbs like a feral while using one paw to clutch his head. Both boys were glaring now, not willing to take their eyes off the opponent who just hurt them or give him an opening. Teddy was the first to break the brief stare-off… as he took a deep breath, fur seeming to stand on end, and let out a Noble Roar with some actual impressive reverberation to it instead of the squealed mew you’d expect with how he looked.

Petie winced, feeling a little of the gained muscle (under all the baby fat) from Bulk Up melt away as the attack washed over him, before responding by taking a deep breath of his own… and making a sickeningly cute expression. Teddy visibly wobbled a little, from disgust by the look on his face, as the Charm hit him before sucking in more air and letting out another Noble Roar. Petie groaned, now having all the baby fat he’d gained Bulk Up with none of the bonus attack to go with it, before hitting back with another Charm as Teddy wobbled then sat down hard with his front paws on the ground like a feral or a toddler. Head lolling back and forth the litleo looked dazed, but before Petie could close the distance to take advantage of it Teddy’s eyes focused and he sucked in air once more. Bracing himself for another Noble Roar Petie squealed in pain again as a swirling burst of fire came pouring out of Teddy’s mouth and the teddiursa found himself caught up in a Fire Spin.

Stumbling and covering his face as the fire washed over him Petie felt pain as the flames licking at his fur for a moment before the searing sensation was replaced with a surrounded, suffocating heat… which turned out to be a literal ring of flames surrounding him. The circle was a couple feet wide and easily neck height for the teddiursa, making escape without setting himself aflame impossible. Even without directly touching the flames though Petie could feel the painful heat against his skin as he winced… being too distracted by his situation to try and dodge as Teddy came barreling through the fames, his little top hat flying off as he came, pouncing right into Petie with a Headbutt and knocking the teddiursa flat on his back. Only vaguely aware he’d lost his own hat in the landing Petie struggled under the litleo, Teddy pretty much sitting on top of him snarling in his face now… as Petie snarled right back at him, operating more on instinct that anything else at the point.

Despite this the bear cub WAS aware enough to notice when Teddy’s teeth burst into flame and responded by Feint Attack punching him, this time in the mouth, again before he could tear back into his shoulder with another Fire Fang. Staggering a little from the blow Teddy’s weight shifted, allowing Petie to grab and shove the litleo sitting on top of him rolling both of them over. Now on top of the lion cub Petie pulled back his fist, intent on slugging Teddy in the nose this time, only for his opponent to grab the arm Petie was using to try and hold him down and dig his still flaming teeth into it. Visibly wincing in pain at the Fire Fang Petie lost focus for a moment… letting Teddy pry his teeth out of the teddiursa’s arm and grab Petie by the collar of his uniform and try to keep the roll going so he ended up back on top. Instead Teddy ended up accidentally shoving Petie head first into the swirling, dancing flames of the Fire Spin ring making the teddiursa’s world go shades of red, yellow, orange, and pain.

Screaming at the heat and pain, which made it worse as he felt the flames in his mouth and throat, Petie struggling violently, only vaguely aware of the shouting referee warning Teddy and threatening him with another penalty card. Having his eyes shut tight to keep the flames from getting to them the teddiursa was swinging blind even when he felt Teddy hurriedly yank him out of the flames. He also felt his desperate flailing connect with something as he threw his weight against whatever he’d just hit and Fury Swiped at it frantically, the squeals and mews of pain confirming he’d gotten Teddy. Just as he managed to open his eyes enough to see where he’d been clawing and to receive a warning of his own for scratching at the litleo’s face. Neither boy had time to feel guilt over their accidental rule breaking as Teddy spat a small version of Fire Spin into Petie’s already charred face, to get the bear off him, before both boys collapsing to the ground in the ring of flames clutching their faces in pain…

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

The audience was more-or-less dead silent, beyond some murmuring from friends and family of the two battling, as they watched the match. The crowd had been left a mix of impressed and annoyed at the last match due to how irregular it’d been and some of them had already started to leave when it was announced the last battle would just be between two freshmen since they already had a pretty good idea what a battle between arena newbies would be like… but it was safe to say nobody in the stands had expected what was happening in the arena now. Especially not from a pair of freshmen who looked like they should be in kindergarten learning the finer points of their ABCs and to color in the lines. The fact both cubs were undeniably cute somehow just made the violence, which seemed more at home in something like a grudge match between older students who didn’t care if they got disqualified or not, so much worse…

Not that the Song cousins cared in the least, all that mattered to the three monkey members of Team Connell was the fight was getting good as they learned forward in their seats to get a better view and nudged (on the cusp of shoving) Nicky and Smokey to get the two to look since Nicky had been dead to the world since his lost bet and Smokey had been trying to reassure his friend. Finally the prodding got too much and they looked… as Smokey’s jaw dropped to his chest and Nicky, who was STILL dead to the world, mumbled about runts teething on each other. Next to them though the reaction from Dai and her friends was MUCH less positive as the brutality of the match had actually been enough to make Greg, a snorlax, put down his snacks and stop eating as he watched while Amy clutched his shirt before hiding her face in his large stomach to avoid watching. Dai and Roq meanwhile alternated shouting demands the ref call the match or that he be thrown out for letting this happen… alongside threats from Dai to get her lawyers involved over penalty cards for Petie defending himself.

Petie’s other friends in Team Modern Fantasy were having a decided mixed reaction to the match as Carrie babbled out horrified complaints about how violent the match had gotten, all the while snuggling Toni like a security blanket. Meanwhile the gothita was too caught up in her debated with Bree and Al to notice the yanma cuddling her. Debating over what was happening in the match, what had to be going through Teddy’s head, the consequences the fight might have for other freshmen… which left one hard to answer question filling Toni’s head. What she’d do if she was in Petie’s place. The main consensus the trio reached in their debate though was concern for Petie and the agreement he was only responding to Teddy’s violence. Meanwhile Rex was the only member of the group being silent as he watched the fighters, particularly Teddy, closely… a knowing, concerned, and slightly sympathetic look in the poochyena’s eyes as he tracked the two toddler looking teens expressions carefully.

Their concern for Petie seemed to be shared among the audience though, including a pair of greninja girls in the front row who looked like one of them was struggling to keep the other from leaping into the arena. Something Rose looked like she might do as well, the kangaskhan standing to her full height and leaning over the arena railing watching the fight closely while Anne sat next to her, the cubchoo having curled into a shivering ball in her seat, unable to watch any more. Further along in the stands a muscular jolteon lady was crushing the railing in her grip as she muttered concern for Petie through gritted teeth. The few cheerleaders in the audience had long fallen silent by this point while a few students resorted to covering their own eyes or friends eyes as the violence continued. The only remaining yelling voices were demands to break up the match… or students egging on for the violence to continue as the two small freshmen continued brawling amongst the flames.

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

Oblivious to the crowd’s reactions both fighters continued squirming on the ground in the middle of the dying Fire Spin ring, clutching their faces in pain from the abuse they’d been put through. Suddenly Petie’s squirming stopped abruptly as the teddiursa flopped over in a heap… the light glow around his chubby body letting those watching realize the boy was using Rest in an attempt to recover. Meanwhile Teddy, still blinded by the scratches on his face, crouched on all fours in a feral like position and whipped his head back to let out as loud a Noble Roar as he could since all it needed to connect was to be heard. Rendering the fact he couldn’t see well enough to find his sleeping opponent a moot point… rendered even further moot as the sleeping teddy followed up the roar with some noise of his own by using Snore.

Teddy shuddered a little as the attack hit him but seemed surprisingly unhurt by it, the multiple Noble Roars finally kicking in to cut Petie’s offense down noticeable, as the litleo whipped his head in the direction of the sound. Eyes still squinted shut the fire type didn’t bother to try and aim as he just took a deep breath, puffing himself up as he seem to arch up like a housecat, and unleashed a large Fire Spin in the teddiursa’s direction. The cyclone of flames washed over the normal type on its way to the dying ring of flames surrounding the boys, replenishing the ring of fire and attacking Petie at the same time. Rubbing furiously at the once more Teddy finally blinked his eyes open in full and focused them on his opponent. Shaking off another Snore from the teddiursa the lion cub curled up and POUNCED! Throwing his body forward to land on the sleeping cub and pin him down as Teddy straddled Petie, sitting on his chest.

Not waiting to see if the pounce was enough to wake the sleeping bear cub up Teddy bared his teeth, which burst into flames, and bit back into Petie’s should with another Fire Fang… which, to the observant, looked like it barely had enough force behind it to do any damage despite the effort the litleo put into the attack. Either way it was enough to wake Petie up as the teddiursa let out a squeak of pain and surprise while responding by Feint Attack punching his attacker in the muzzle (since he couldn’t reach Teddy’s nose with the lion cub’s mouth clamped on his shoulder like it was) forcing Teddy to let go. Rearing his head back and taking a deep breath Teddy grabbed the collar of Petie’s uniform as he whipped himself forward and let out another Noble Roar right in Petie’s face. Wincing at the hot breath Petie replied by bring a paw up to his mouth and making a sickeningly sweet “Goo-goo Baby” face… as Teddy looked like the Charm did make him feel sick to his stomach. Pushing past this though Teddy just Noble Roared in Petie’s face again… earning him a Feint Attack punch to the noise proper this time.

The litleo grimaced at the blow but surprisingly enough seemed mostly unhurt as he opted to just whip his head forward and Headbutt Petie hard in the nose to even things out. Petie’s head thudded back to the arena floor, a wince of pain on his face at the blow… but he wasn’t reeling like he should be from the attack. In fact the teddiursa was cognitive enough to defend himself as Teddy opted not to use another proper attack and just tried to up and claw at the bear cub. Grabbing the lion cubs wrists before he could though a brief power struggled ensued as the boy’s grappled and struggled… till Petie managed to get enough leverage to forcible roll both of the to the side and try to get on top of Teddy. Only to end up accidentally tolling them over right into the fire, this time with Teddy being the one pushed into the flames. Thanks to being a fire type though this bothered Teddy far less than it had Petie. Taking advantage of Petie’s surprise at what he’d done the litleo brought another Headbutt crashing into the teddiursa’s face, finally breaking the grapple as Petie rolled back away from Teddy clutching his abused nose.

Crawling out of the flames, mostly unharmed, Teddy eyed the teddiursa with a glare… a confused looking one as he seemed to finally notice how little damage his last attacks had done as Petie sat up shaking, one paw still clutching his nose. Apparently at a loss for what else to do the litleo puffed up his chest and let out another Noble Roar, sounding noticeably more hoarse this time, before shakily getting up on his feet while Petie did the same. The two boys stood there in the fire ring for a moment, just glaring at each other as their chests heaved to try and catch their breath, before they suddenly charged forward as if they’d heard some kind of starting gun. Meeting in the middle the two began biting, clawing, scratching, punching, and pounding at each other with reckless abandon… slugging it out in something that resembled a street brawl more than a proper arena match, or at least resembled a street brawl between a pair of kindergartners, which just made it worse as most of the audience watched in silence.

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

A silence that, at least in spirit, extended to Teddy’s cousins in the audience as Vanessa hadn’t managed to say anything intelligible since the match had gone full tilt off the rails. The vulpix sat in her chair, shaking visibly and clutching Cody so hard it was a miracle the puppy didn’t need a fresh diaper, as she stuttered out half words and sentences… most of which included Teddy’s name and some variation of “No” and “Stop” alongside whimpered begging and pleading. She couldn’t, wouldn’t believe her sweet, helpless, adorable baby brother could act this… this vicious… just considering the idea shocked the dainty fire type to the core. Only her two friends sitting next to her had prevented a full on breakdown as they rubbed the fire fox’s shoulders, tried to reassure her, and did their best to keep their friend from completely losing it. As it stood though Vanessa was only a small push away from a full on crying fit, the tears already forming in her eyes as she continued to mouth weak protests and denials of the reality she was witnessing…

Which was better than Cody who was refusing to look at the scene in the arena, the puppy’s head turned to the side as his eyes were shut as tightly as he could manage. The little growlithe was trembling just like his vulpix cousin, but not from horror. A painful mixture of shock, anger at Teddy for what he was doing and at himself for what he’d done to cause it, and horrible, crushing guilt was surging through the puppy. Cody was dead to the world and numb to how tightly he was being squeezed as he sat there, jaw and eyes shut tight and doing his best to try and shut out the noises of the match, to just block out what was happening, as impossible as that was. One thing the two cousins DID have in common though as they sat there, helpless to stop the horror… was wishing it would just END already…

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

“Why the hell is this taking so long?” Sammi blurted out, fidgeting uncomfortably on Team Pre-K’s bench as she watched the match. She’d seen two adult dragon types beat each other bloody and broken before, multiple times in fact, but still something about this made it uncomfortable for the little dratini to watch. “Wait…” she muttered, squinting a little to try and get a better look at the cubs pounding at one another “They’re not even doing any damage to each other by now, are they…” Sammi started to ask Maddie the question, turning to look at the miltank as she did so, but trailed off as she noticed something. Sitting where she was Sammi could clearly see the one of her miltank coach’s hands was clenching the side of the bench… and the bench was creaking and groaning under the pressure as Maddie seemed to be one errant twitch away from breaking a big chunk out of the wood.

“You’re correct Sammi.” Maddie said, the dratini scooting away as slowly and carefully as she could both at this reminder of how strong her coach actually WAS… and because Maddie was plainly forcing her voice to be steady and calm to a point it was obvious she was emotionally upset in the extreme “Thanks to using Charm and Nobel Roar so much the attack power of both boys is at an extreme low.” The miltank continued to explain, not taking her eyes off the match “So they’re doing very little damage despite brawling like they’re trying to kill each other… so little damage that, since they aren’t going after the eyes or other illegal areas or breaking any other rules, there’s no grounds for the ref to break the fight up…” she finished, trailing off as the dugout was silent again till Sammi, now on the other end of the bench spoke up.

“So that’s why he hasn’t called the match?”

“That’s why he hasn’t called the match.” Was the cow’s reply as Sammi slumped in her seat and grumbled “That sucks… they’re just gonna drag this stupid thing out even longer then…” before the dratini winced at a creaking sound… before looking to see it was just Maddie releasing her grip on the, now visibly cracked, bench to put her hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner. Still marveling at what her coach could do if she was the type to get violent Sammi was silent until Maddie spoke up after a minute or two of observation “No… this won’t go on too much longer. The fights going to end in the next few minutes…” the older mon said knowingly as Sammi debated whether to ask how the hell Maddie would know this, maybe make a snarky comment or something… but caution and curiosity won out as she just turned her gaze back to the match to see if Maddie’s prediction would come to pass.

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

The fight among the flames continued, degrading slowly from a full on brawl to what more resembled a sluggish looking slap fight as the two cubs further and further exhausted themselves. Swinging wide Teddy managed to land another weak blow to Petie’s nose, nearly falling over due to his wild swing, sending the teddiursa stumbled backwards to fall hard on his bottom. Stumbling forward a step the litleo looked like he was trying to muster up the strength to pounce his opponent once more… before Petie fell over backwards fast asleep. Seeing the glow from Rest and knowing Petie was healing himself again Teddy teetered on his feet, looking like he was at a loss for what to do, before finally falling forward as if he didn’t have the strength to stay standing.

Down on all fours like a feral Teddy panted for air, his whole body heaving, before taking as big a breath as he could manage and spitting out a Fire Spin that washed right over Petie further fueling the ring of fire… or it would have had it not sputtered out as the litleo’s abused throat sent him into a coughing fit. Just in time for Petie to let out a Snore that made the wheezing lion cub wince in pain. Still coughing Teddy managed another Fire Spin just long enough for the flames spiral to brush against Petie before the litleo seized up coughing again, looking ragged and pitiful as he coughed, squeaked, and spurted flames in between trying to get air into his lungs while trying not to collapse on his side. Petie looked no better as the Teddiursa barely managed another Snore. Even with Rest healing him the teddiursa’s uniform was torn and ragged, his fur was smoldering from the flames around and washing over him, and even in sleep his breathing was visibly ragged.

For a drawn out moment nothing really happened as Teddy continued to cough, clawing at the ground as he did so, and Petie lay there, having woken up, but making no move to get up as he groaned weakly. As the toxicroak ref, who’d been watching the two with close scrutiny despite what the crowd was yelling at him, moved to intervene due to interaction though both the trembling little balls of fur moved to get to their feet. Struggling they rose up and glared at one another… or at least tried to glare as their faces and expression were as pitiful and exhausted at the rest of them. Their eyes managed to focus on each other at least as they stumbled forward quickly, looking less like they were running and more like they were falling in slow motion as they staggered forward one step at a time. They brought their fists up as they staggered as the audience seemed to go quiet, as if in anticipation of a movie moment finisher to the unpleasant affair…

Instead both boys swung their arms forward with all their weight and remaining force, resulting in a clumsy, brutal cross counter as both blows landed, hammering into their targets cheek. There wasn’t a shred of the grace or elegance in the moment unlike how the media showed such things. Instead both boys immediately crumpled under the blow and collapsed, their legs giving out from under them as they fell, Teddy tumbling forward first and Petie falling over on top of the litleo. Laying there as the last embers of the Fire Spin ring slowly petered out around them neither boy moved as the ref immediately closed in to make sure they were okay. The arena was absolutely silent for a moment, waiting for the announcement, as the poison type finally looked up knelt and cleared his throat. “Teddy is unable to battle!” he called, Petie shakily rising to his feet as the litleo didn’t stir. The dazed, vacant look on the teddiursa’s face making it clear he was only dimly aware of what was going on as the ref continued “Petie of Team Pre-K has won the round! The winners of this match are Team Pre-K!”

The announcement echoed as the audience seemed unsure how to react. There was no eruption of cheers or booing… if anything there seemed to be a sensation of relief that it was finally over. As the medics rushed the arena, alongside Maddie and Sammi, Petie swayed and fell. Plopping down and unintentionally sitting on Teddy, adding insult to injury, as the litleo didn’t stir at all. Instead he just lay there breathing shallowly, unaware he’d lost the match and the victor was currently sitting on him… or was he? His expression was one of a child having an unpleasant nightmare as he and the dazed teddiursa were loaded onto stretchers and carried out of the arena towards the nearest nurse’s office… several members of the audience leaving their seats to follow. Watching the medics leave the arena the toxicroak paused to groan, turn off his microphone for a moment, and mumble to himself…

“Still not the words freshmen match I’ve had to handle… somehow…”


To Be Concluded…