The next two matches passed too quickly for Canopus and too slowly for Kyanosa. Naslok, the elf, quickly magicked his way through his fight, with Canopus muttering the whole time about fighting yet another fire-based opponent, and Malhildur threw enough rocks to viciously force her plain-clothed opponent out of the ring. Then came Kyanosa’s turn.
“Good luck Kyanosa,” Kaye said with a smile. “You’ll do great.”
Kyanosa pumped his fist in the air once and left his seat, walking up the stairs to his side of the arena. His thought-out plan for sizing up his opponent (which, for fairness’ sake, was thought out by Canopus and told to Kyanosa during the first match) went out the window when he first saw him. He, Kyanosa, survivor of the exploding planets, ten-foot-robots, magic-hurling demons, and death itself, was fighting a puppy.
The announcer looked to one side of the arena, at Kyanosa, then to Sam on the other side. “Both of you ready?” They nodded. “Then fight!” He quickly skedaddled from ground zero.
Now besides sizing up the opponent, Kyanosa had also been told how to start a fight. Quick attack to catch them off guard, then keep them there with a rapid series of frontal attacks to drive them back to the edge of the arena. Unfortunately, all his life Kyanosa had been afflicted with a syndrome that automatically endears him to anything small and cute, so he walked right up to his opponent and extended his hand. “Hi! Kyanosa.”
Standing fully upright on two thick but short legs, the dog smiled and shook the offered hand. “Sam. Nice to meet you.”
Kyanosa grinned. “Tell you what. There’s an obvious disparity here in size and strength. And since I don’t want you to think I’m all about overpowering you from here until Sunday, how about you take the first shot?”
Sam grinned. “Okay!” He reached up, placed a hand on Kyanosa’s chest, and fired a tornado that blew Kyanosa halfway across the arena and nearly made him roll off the edge. Kyanosa slapped a hand on the floor and, using it as a center point, rotated until he was facing Sam and jumped back upright.
“Alright!” He breathed for a second, and then pointed. “No more first shots!” Kyanosa and Sam ran at each other. The instant before they met, Sam generated a wind tunnel right under him, launching him into the air. Kyanosa jumped up and grabbed the dog’s leg, keeping him from getting too far out of the way, and violently slammed his back into the arena floor. Sam blew the impending human away from him and, using wind for an extra boost, rocketed himself at Kyanosa, spiraling right into his stomach. Kyanosa doubled over, but fell all the way right before the dog could kick him in the temple.
Using his forward momentum, Kyanosa rolled under Sam. He placed both hands on the pavement and used them to push himself up and backward, then planted both feet right in Sam’s back. The dog flipped once, landed on his feet, and pointed at Kyanosa. Another tornado began to form under the human, but dying tends to give a person very quick reflexes concerning potential life-threatening problems, and Kyanosa quickly flipped out of the way and, in fact, to the other side of the arena. Sam ducked down, wound up, and aimed himself in another spiral at the opponent.
This time, Kyanosa was ready. He ran back at Sam, cutting the distance between them very quickly. Right before collision, Kyanosa turned and bent to the side, putting his body barely outside of the dog’s path, and grabbed the dog’s shoulder, pushing it down violently. Sam still spiraled, but now he was also spinning head-over-heels and emitting an odd worried scream. He sailed over the edge of the arena, but placed a wind shield in front of him to stop the flipping. He regained his hovering about five feet away from the arena edge and ten feet above the grass outside, the disqualification zone. He sighed and wiped his forehead.
Kyanosa grinned. “Banshou no ashige!” He ran at the suspended Sam, jumped at him, and flipped rapidly with one leg extended. The modified heel drop hit Sam square between the shoulder blades, knocking him straight down the ten feet and into a newly-formed puppy-shaped outline in the ground below. Kyanosa landed gracefully next to him half a second later.
David hopped back on the arena. “Arena out! Winner, Kyanosa!”
