Conscious, Conscientious

Deon plopped into his assigned arena seat beside Phillip. He dragged his hands over his face slowly and sighed, his eyes heavy. All around, the crowd was gathering for the first fight of the afternoon.

After a couple minutes of silence, Phillip looked at Deon.

“You’re not going to talk my ear off for once?” he inquired.

Deon wiped his eyes once more. “So now you’re gonna complain that I’m not talking?”

“Fair point.”

“I was up super late last night training,” explained Deon. He yawned. “I probably should have stopped sooner.”

Phillip shrugged, and returned to his own thoughts. It seemed all his attention was on the west gate of the arena, where Pang and Skrili would be entering from, as he stared on eagerly.

Deon noticed he seemed oddly sprightly today. Usually Phillip was crouched over himself with a brooding glare at all times. But now he sat up straight, and despite his deathly pale complexion, he had a glow in his face.

“You seem chipper—for you,” Deon commented.

Suddenly, Phillip blushed. “Oh, really? No—no reason,” he quickly replied.

~

Skrili and Pang could hear the chatting crowd grow beyond the gate they waited behind. A countdown on a nearby wall indicated it was almost time for their second round fight.

“Did you get to spend time with your guy last night?” Pang suddenly asked with a sly twinkle in her eye.

Skrili hesitated irritably at Pang’s choice of words. Thankfully for her, the fight introductions had begun, interrupting them.

But Skrili hadn’t seen Deon last night; she fell asleep before he got back. Whatever he was doing, he stayed up extremely late. She awoke in the morning to find him snoring, sprawled out on his bed in his day clothes. She wondered if he got up early enough to get to the fight on time.

Her thoughts shifted back to their impending challenge, as the gate before them vanished. A light platform appeared underneath them, raising them up and into the arena. Applause flooded their ears.

“…Please welcome: Pang Pereo and Skrili Kay!” finished Soot.

Their opponents, Benny and Darla, had already been announced and were waiting for them on the platform. Benny was punching the air and exerting manly grunts, but Skrili focused on Darla: the Power Rebound. She stood relaxed, staring back at Skrili with keen pink eyes.

“This is the matchup I’m most excited for today,” shared Talonvorp, his voice projecting all around. “Power Rebounds are an extremely rare type, and because of that, this fight is actually making history. This will be the first time two Power Rebounds face off in the Main Event of a Fantasy Country Conscious Competition.”

“Oooh, I can’t wait! I’m literally shaking!” Soot exclaimed.

“I think that’s the bewitched coffee again,” Talonvorp pointed out.

Soon Skrili and Pang touched down on the fighting platform. The two teams bowed to each other.

Benny sized Skrili and Pang up. “Man, it’s gonna feel wrong beating up a couple little girls,” he said. “Nothing personal—but that honeymoon in the West Mountains is calling us. Right, babe?!”

Darla rolled her eyes, but nodded.

“Alright, just like yesterday, leave it to me,” Benny instructed. “I’m gonna—”

Darla placed a hand on his shoulder slowly. “Wait, hun,” she said, her eyes still on Skrili. “I knew it—so you are that Power Rebound girl I met back in No Man’s Land,” she confirmed with a friendly smile.

Skrili nodded.

“What’s your point, babe?” Benny asked impatiently.

“I’m gonna fight this girl,” Darla told him. “You worry about the Manipulator.”

Pang chuckled. “Works for me.”

“WHAT?!” shouted Benny. “That makes no sense. I can take—”

“I’m fighting Skrili,” Darla decided. “I’ve never fought another Power Rebound.”

Skrili gave a small smile. “Me either,” she said.

“Looks like sparks are ready to fly, folks!” declared Soot. “You know what that means:”

“Three…Two…One…”

“FIGHT!!!”

“Fine…I’ll take the little red girl,” Benny reluctantly agreed, punching his fist into his palm. “Sorry, kid, but this probably won’t be very fun for—”

Instantly, a gigantic fist appeared in front of Benny and slammed into him. The impact sent him flipping and rolling to the floor.

Pang commanded the fist to vanish. “I’m really gonna enjoy shutting this idiot up,” she scowled, running after him.

“And Pang opens up the fight with a direct hit on Benny, using his own attack!” announced Soot.

“With Pang’s Manipulator ability, this may as well be an Imaginer fighting an Imaginer,” observed Talonvorp.

Meanwhile, Darla remained relaxed, watching Skrili.

How do I approach this? I know nothing about her strategy, thought Skrili. In every fight we researched, she let Benny do everything.

Darla shifted slightly.

I guess I’ll handle this like I would if I were fighting myself, Skrili planned. I have to either push her out of bounds, or pin her.

“Your move,” insisted Darla. “Let’s have a good fight, okay?”

Skrili nodded. She focused on her target, and with a push, launched forward.

First, she attempted a sliding kick to trip Darla. As expected, Darla easily avoided it with a casual leap, so Skrili jumped back up and tried to grab her arm. Darla spun perfectly out of her reach, offering no counter-attack.

Skrili paused for a second. Clearly, Darla was too quick for basic techniques. But still, her best bet was to pin her before she had any Power Rebound strength to resist.

Yet as a fellow Power Rebound, Darla probably knew that was her strategy. Skrili needed to find a way to subvert her expectations.

I need to go for a direct hit—she won’t see that coming this early, Skrili prepared. I’ll miss on purpose and position myself to trip her.

Skrili jumped forward and prepared a powerful punch.

Darla stood relaxed as Skrili swung her fist. Skrili knew she wouldn’t dodge—she would try to take the hit and activate a Power Rebound. As planned, Skrili threw her aim off just enough to miss.

But her heart skipped a beat when she felt her fist slam into Darla’s undefended stomach. With a painful grunt, Darla stumbled to the floor.

Somehow, Darla read her perfectly—she had shifted back into Skrili’s path at the last instant.

She knew?! Skrili thought.

“Wow…you have a good punch—even when you’re trying to miss,” Darla shared from the floor. “But I’m sure you know: we Power Rebounds have to get good at reading which hits to take.”

Skrili took several cautious steps back. She knew what was coming.

Darla darted at Skrili with enhanced speed. Now it was her turn to try and pin or launch Skrili, and her Power Rebound boost gave her a much better advantage.

Skrili barely dodged Darla’s first attempt to grab her, and managed to deflect the next two tries. But there was no way she could keep up with Darla’s speed now—not without her own Power Rebound.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I can’t let it happen,” Darla cautioned her as she gained closer to trapping Skrili with each attempt.

“You might have to,” Skrili replied.

“As interesting as that would be…” Darla thought aloud. Then, she shifted unexpectedly, throwing off Skrili’s gravity just enough to grab her by the arms.

Skrili steadied her stance, expecting Darla to pick her up and throw her like Reginald did. But instead, Darla began pushing—sliding Skrili backwards as she pressed forward. Skrili tried hard to break Darla’s grip, but she wouldn’t budge.

At this rate, Darla would push her right out of the ring.

No…Skrili thought. She glanced up into the enormous crowd. I can’t mess this up…I can’t let someone die because I failed…

…Not again.

As they neared the corner, Skrili thought up an escape. It felt risky and cheap, but she decided it would have to do.

She managed to catch the floor tightly with her foot, and with a combination of Darla’s force and her own, she thrust herself down, back-first to the floor.

As Darla struggled to stay afoot, Skrili slammed against the floor, almost banging her head. Her breath shot out and pain shot through her back. She rushed to stand back up, despite the throbbing across her shoulders and spine.

Good…nothing’s broken, she noted.

Even better: she felt a Power Rebound rushing through her. Turning to Darla, she slid into her fighting stance.

“Excellent work from Skrili,” Talonvorp proclaimed. “You have to be one tough cookie to be a Power Rebound in this League. It appears we have two tough cookies before us today.”

“Great, now I want cookies,” complained Soot.

Darla seemed both disappointed and intrigued. She smiled. “Here we go, then.”

“Here we go,” agreed Skrili. They both knew what this meant:

The power boost race had begun.

The two fighters charged at each other.

“WHOA—let’s not forget about Pang and Benny—what a hit!” Soot commented.

Meanwhile, Benny had just taken yet another giant fist straight to the face. He slammed the ground furiously before getting back up and shaking his head.

“QUIT STEALING MY MOVES!!!” he demanded.

“Aw, but I don’t wanna…” Pang whined teasingly. “Come on, tough guy. Your wife’s gonna think she married a loser. And she’d be right.”

Benny roared at her. “YOU FREAKIN’ TWERP!! TAKE THIS: FIST FLINGER!!!!!”

Even faster than usual, Benny’s barrage of fake fists popped into the air all around him. In a fit of rage, he started throwing the punches as fast and hard as he could.

“Oh, goodie,” Pang said with a clap. “I was hoping you’d find the chance to bust that out.”

Completely unfazed, she began expertly hopping out of the way of each attack. All the while, she kept an eye on Benny’s motions. While his rapid attacks were much more powerful than what Deon had pulled off in his powered-up state, they weren’t as frequent.

Eventually Benny had to take a break, bending over and taking grunt-like gasps. He glared at his target.

“They all…missed?!” he realized.

Pang shrugged with a menacing glean in her eyes. “Okay, so it was something like this…” She puffed her chest out, trying to look as big as she could, only to appear just as tiny. “FiSt fLiNgEr!!!” she shouted in as deep and condescending a voice as possible.

The same fists Benny had imagined appeared all around her, now, ready for her command.

“Oh—you’re a good Imaginer! This is easy to maintain,” Pang told him. “Alright, I’m not gonna do the actual punching thing, that’s tacky—I’ll just send them at you.”

The fists soared towards Benny, who ducked for cover as they bombed down onto him.

“SCREW THIS!!” he screamed.

Even more fists appeared around him, heading for Pang. Now that Benny wasn’t physically punching the air as he fired them, they moved a bit slower. Nonetheless, half the fighting arena was now filled with flying fists.

“Well…this is…something,” uttered Soot.

Up in the balcony seating, Deon and Phillip watched closely.

“Pang sure likes playing with her prey…” Deon mentioned derisively.

“It doesn’t matter,” mumbled Phillip. “As long as she wins.”

Deon returned his attention to Skrili and Darla as they went at it on the other side of the arena. Now that they both had Power Rebounds, it was tricky to keep up with their movements. At first, both were clearly trying to trap or push the other out of the arena, but soon it was clear this method was now vain—Skrili and Darla had both become too strong and fast.

Their fight had evolved into a supercharged version of a normal faceoff, filled with masterful punches, kicks, and blocks.

It’s only gonna get more intense the longer they go, thought Deon. They’re both giving each other bigger and bigger Power Rebounds…

…Will Skrili have to do it?

“Phoenix Floats!” an amiable voice called out from elsewhere on the balcony. “Enjoy the fight with a refreshing Phoenix Float! It goes great with our burgers!”

Deon felt his stomach call out in response—he didn’t get the chance to eat yet today. Despite his concern with the ongoing fight, he looked away to try and find the source. If the Phoenix’s salads were that amazing, he figured their burgers must be heavenly.

A few rows down, a pretty girl with long, brown hair and green eyes was strolling along, trying to sell food out of a special box strapped around her with the Phoenix’s logo on it. She appeared around Deon’s age.

“Want anything?” Deon asked Phillip.

“You’re really thinking about food at a time like this?” he shot.

“Hmm…call it stress eating, then,” Deon decided.

He waved down the girl. When she noticed, she began her way up the steps, constantly apologizing to anyone whose vision she obstructed. She was stunning—which made Deon question if Skrili’s ‘no flirting’ rule still held up while she was technically with Pang.

Then again, flirting while Skrili and Pang were currently fighting for Phillip’s life felt pretty disrespectful.

“Hello! What can I get for you?” the girl asked pleasantly.

“I’ll take a burger, and…well, I haven’t tried a Phoenix Float yet,” Deon realized. “Want one, Phillip?”

“Bite me.”

“And two Phoenix Floats!” Deon requested.

After the girl walked him through the payment process on his TeamTrack, she handed him their order. The dark, creamy Phoenix Floats were in thick mugs, and their bubbles dripped off the corners.

But something else fascinated Deon: as the girl gave them their food, he noticed elegant, thin black patterns and shapes all over her arms.

“Whoa, cool markings,” he said.

Suddenly, the girl shrunk back a bit. Her bubbly energy faded as she looked away. “Oh…” she uttered uncertainly. She reached up and felt her ear, seeming slightly reassured by what she touched. “Enjoy,” she managed with a weak smile.

With that, the girl walked off and returned to work.

“Huh…” wondered Deon, taking a sip from his float. “WHOA—THIS IS AWESOME!”

“Pay attention to the fight!” Phillip snapped. He angrily gulped from his mug. “Though, you’re right—this is weirdly delicious.”

By now, Pang and Benny’s endless fist missiles had intensified to ridiculous levels. They were launching fists at each other half the size of dragons. Pang had only taken a few hits earlier on, while Benny had acquired several bumps and bruises.

“STOP COPYING MY ATTACKS!!!” Benny bellowed.

“Okay, here’s a variation,” called Pang.

She sent another giant hand at him, but this one shot him a thumbs-down as he dove to the floor, barely avoiding its impact.

“YOU BRAT!!!!!” hollered Benny.

Skrili and Darla paid no attention, too locked into their fight. Their moves had become like a dance as they sped around the fighting arena together. Skrili noticed Darla’s style was remarkably similar to hers, only with more emphasis on punches than kicks.

Skrili’s Power Rebound had grown to a level almost as high as the last time she fought Pang in No Man’s Land, when she had reached that stage just before Concussion. Her reflexes had heightened so much that she almost felt weightless.

Fighting against any other opponent, this would probably be her chance to dominate. But against Darla, it meant nothing: Darla’s Power Rebound had increased just as much. On top of that, she was even more skilled than Skrili. If Skrili couldn’t step it up soon, she knew Darla would pull ahead.

She needed something else.

“Hey, whatever happened to that other guy you were with?” Darla asked as they blocked each other and locked arms. “Weren’t you a team?”

Skrili was surprised Darla could still strike up conversation during the heat of the fight. “We will be,” she answered simply. “After this tournament.”

She broke from Darla and swung a mighty kick, but Darla ducked in time.

“Okay then, I’ll end this now,” Darla shared as she blocked several of Skrili’s punches. “Guys don’t wait around forever, you know.”

She caught another one of Skrili’s attacks, twisted, and then kicked Skrili in the stomach, launching her sliding against the floor. As Skrili shot to her feet, she noticed Darla glance over at Benny and Pang.

Immediately, Skrili knew that meant something: this whole time, Darla hadn’t paid any attention to the other fight. But now that it was clear Benny was struggling, she was shifting her strategy. She knew Benny would need her help.

But what was her new plan? Had she thought of a way to finish Skrili off?

If she had, it meant one thing: Skrili had to stop Darla first, and act fast.

She knew what to do, and it was risky.

“This has been so refreshing, Skrili,” Darla said earnestly. “Let’s talk fighting strategies sometime, Rebound-to-Rebound. But for now, that honeymoon won’t pay for itself.”

She shifted low, preparing to charge head-on.

“Sorry, I have more important things to pay for,” Skrili said. She took many steps back, allowing plenty of distance between them, and then matched Darla’s stance.

I have no choice: I have to go for a knockout, Skrili decided. Then I’ll have to help Pang beat Benny fast; if Darla can control Concussion and recovers too soon, she can finish us in seconds.

I just hope she doesn’t think I’ll take the risk.

“Uh-oh, something BIG looks like it’s about to unfold with Darla and Skrili!” Soot noticed.

Darla winked at Skrili.

Then, they charged at each other once more, so fast they barely touched the ground. Skrili and Darla both clenched a fist. They swung a fierce punch…

And nailed each other in the head.

Skrili and Darla both twisted from the impact, and immediately collapsed. The audience gasped as they lay motionless.

“They BOTH landed a clean hit!! Skrili and Darla are down!!” Soot shouted.

“We’ll see if their teammates dismiss them from the fight or not,” Talonvorp reported. “As Power Rebounds, they could still pose quite a threat if they recover. So if their teammates choose, they can stay in.”

Deon’s eyes widened. “They knocked each other out?!” he exclaimed.

Phillip nodded solemnly. “Pang needs to finish this now, or there’s no chance. It’s likely Darla has mastered Concussion. She can use this injury to her advantage.”

Deon glanced at Phillip and noticed the sickly dark veins in his neck bulging. This is really stressing him out, he noted.

“Hey man, take it easy. They got this,” Deon assured.

“What do you know? Your teammate is defeated,” Phillip replied. “Judging by Pang’s stories, Skrili hasn’t mastered Concussion. She’s out of the fight.”

In between dodges, Pang caught a glimpse of Skrili and Darla lying still. “Great…” she grumbled to herself.

Benny had noticed too, and stopped shooting his imaginary fists. “Darla!” he cried. “This is why you should let me do the fighting!”

“Oh, shut it,” Pang spat. Using Benny’s powers, she imagined a giant net over him, and let it drop.

But Benny was too quick, and imagined large, muscular hands to grab it and rip it out of existence.

“It’s down to you and me!” Benny declared. “FIST FLINGER!!!”

Pang was quick to match his attack, and their fist firefight continued. One of Benny’s attacks managed to swoop in and bash Pang in the stomach, but she stayed focused.

“Looks like neither Pang nor Benny are excusing their teammates from the fight! Skrili and Darla are still technically in!” explained Soot.

“They must have a lot of faith in their teammates,” Talonvorp noticed.

Pang and Benny’s back-and-forth aerial strikes continued for minutes. Still, neither Skrili nor Darla stirred. Deon hoped the tournament’s healers could restore them to normal afterwards.

“Oh—what’s this?” Soot noticed.

The crowd began to clap and cheer, but Deon’s heart dropped: Darla was getting up.

She stood dizzily, holding her head. “Ow…nice hit,” she said to Skrili, noticing she still lay unconscious. “This is it, though.”

As she stood unsteadily, a pink hue of light began glowing around her. It quickly brightened, and then intensified into bursting flares of energy, creating a gust that blew through Skrili’s hair. Darla rose off the ground, no longer disoriented. Looking over to Benny and Pang’s fight, her eyes flashed with pink light.

“Here it finally is, folks! Darla has unlocked Concussion!!” Soot announced.

The crowd looked on, amazed at the transformation.

“No…” Phillip mumbled. “We lose.”

“Didn’t you tell me to have more faith in my teammate?” Deon questioned. “Now you’re giving up.”

“You don’t understand: it’s impossible now,” argued Phillip. “Manipulators can’t take Power Rebounds’ powers. Our only chance would be a power up equal to Concussion, and Skrili can’t do that.”

Deon smirked knowingly as he took one last sip from his Phoenix Float. “Who says she can’t?”

Darla flew towards Pang, pink energy shooting all around her.

Pang had just narrowly dodged one of Benny’s attacks, and now she looked up to see Darla closing in.

“Crap,” she uttered, with no time to prepare a defense.

But then a light flashed, blinding everyone. After Pang blinked and adjusted her eyes, everything seemed weirdly purple.

In an instant, she knew why.

Right in front of Darla, blocking off her path, floated Skrili. Just like Darla, flares and flashes of light energy sparked all around her, but hers were purple. Her eyes radiated the same intense power.

The crowd went wild, along with Soot and Talonvorp, in sheer astonishment.

“BOTH FIGHTERS HAVE AWAKENED CONCUSSION!!!!” Soot squealed.

Darla let out a laugh. “I guess we both took the same risk, huh?” she pointed out.

Skrili nodded.

“Babe—stay down, you’re hurt!” Benny shouted over the hum of their powers. “I’ll do this!”

Darla rolled her eyes. “Benny, stop being ridiculous. Let the big girls handle this.” She winked at Skrili.

With another jarring flash, Skrili and Darla vanished, and reappeared flying high above the fighting platform. They resumed their fight, which had evolved into what appeared as a series of sparks and glimpses: it was too fast and intense for the human eye.

Phillip looked on in amazement. “Skrili…can control Concussion now?”

Deon’s smile grew. “Yeah she can. We did some intense training in the Mainland Desert leading up to this. Skrili insisted I help her activate and practice Concussion. It felt wrong at first, but she’s tough as nails.” He laughed. “I thought I was gonna die a few times, but she figured out how to take control of the powers. She wanted to be as ready as possible for this.”

Phillip continued to look on in awe.

“I don’t think this is just a favor to her,” Deon shared. “She’s fighting for a life, and that matters to her.”

“I…I owe her,” Phillip decided.

Deon leaned back in his seat. “Yep…when Skrili and I regroup after this, we’ll be the two most noble fighters in the League, on the same team!”

“You just had to add that and ruin it.”

As fists crashed all along the arena floor, sparks flew high above. Neither team had let up just yet.

However, soon, Darla and Skrili became fully visible again. Their attacks had begun to slow. Gradually, they both returned to the floor, continuing their battle with less tenacity.

Skrili could feel the Concussion boost wearing off fast.

After avoiding a jumping kick from Darla, Skrili hopped a few steps away. They stood near the edge of the platform, so she kept an eye on her footing.

“We’re an even match,” Darla said. “This is gonna come down to who punched the hardest.”

Skrili knew she was right: at this point, whoever received the larger Concussion boost would outlast the other. All she could hope for now, ironically, was that Darla had punched her harder when they knocked each other out.

“I know I said you have a nice punch, but I think it’s over for you,” Darla shared. “Keep at it—you’re gonna do well…in this…League…”

Suddenly, her pink energy faded out. Her eyes closed as she fell, collapsing out of the arena.

Skrili sighed as she observed her now sleeping opponent with respect. “Thanks for this fight,” she uttered.

“Darla is down and out!” Soot announced.

Meanwhile, Benny paused in shock of the announcement. While the audience applauded, he looked over to his wife. “BABE!!!” he shouted.

“You moron,” Pang muttered. Now was her chance: Benny was totally distracted. Drawing from his powers, Pang launched one last gigantic fist at him from his blindside.

It whacked into him straight-on, launching him right out of the arena. Benny crashed violently into the wall and drooped to the floor, out of bounds.

“Oof…well, by both ring-out and knockout, Benny and Darla are defeated!” Soot commentated. “The incredible Skrili and Pang will advance to the semi-finals!!”

The arena shook with applause. Deon could hear countless fans shouting their praise.

As Pang waved to the crowd, Skrili swayed, and then fainted beside Darla. Light platforms appeared underneath both of them, as well as Benny, and began carrying them all away.

“She’s okay—she’ll just need rest and healing,” Deon told Phillip. “The officials will take care of that, right?”

Phillip nodded, then stood. “Let’s meet Pang and go wait for Skrili to recover.”

Deon was surprised Phillip was actually inviting him to join. He made sure not to point it out, before Phillip changed his mind.

As he and Phillip climbed down the steps, he smiled to himself about Skrili’s victory. Thanks to their training together, she stood up to a more experienced Power Rebound.

But it also reminded him: Skrili was still that far ahead of him. She had mastered her power-up, while he wasn’t close. Soon, she could be strong and experienced enough to slip out of his reach. It only persuaded him further:

Perhaps he needed to take Pang’s offer to practice together. He just couldn’t let Skrili find out.