This is another one of my stories for my creative writing class, so if this rough, don't get mad. This portrays the events of the battle between Tactic_Ninja and I, except a lot more interesting. The assignment was to write from the eyes of another, so this is written from Tactic's standpoint.
Also, for those of you who don't know, my name is Austin, so that's why Austin is used a lot more often than Mario is.
“I challenge thee!” Austin exclaimed as he joined. Oh course he challenged. Life a gym-leader was never easy. All that is required is a battle, whether you win and get a nice pat on the back, or lose and grudgingly accept handing over your gym’s badge. All the armor lost in in the arena, only meant to last one battle and eventually wear out and break; All the lost material used for battles that mean very little; All the swords and axes spent training with, just for a dead-end job. Oh why…
“Alright Mario,” I said to him, speaking over the talks of others also here, “Here, come to my gym.” Using the old fashioned method of instant transportation, I sent him a request to teleport to me within a 60-second acceptation deadline. I also used the methods of teleportation on myself to travel to the arena of my gym, which I had seen for the millionth time already. Spectators were waiting to watch the showdown already. Draco, a good friend of mine, and Frenzy, the person no one liked, yet I had a deep respect for, were both anxious to see who would come out victorious. Equipped with my brand new shiny iron armor, I waited for Mario to accept the request, bow in hand.
“I’m here!” Austin said with his set of equipment on him too, “Whoa.” He started to look around the arena, with the sand made from the souls of those lost their lives making up the walls, and the blocks of pure diamond making up the floor around him. The lava, I noticed, became his biggest worry as he backed away from the pools of it.
“Ready yet?” I asked him. He instantly looked back up with his face gleaming an confident grin. Something told me he was too confident about winning…
“Yes I am Tactic!” he shouted from across the arena. He pulled out his sword and began to prepare for the battle ahead.
“Alright then,” I began.
“5,4,3,2,1…”
“Go!”
The epic battle had begun. I pulled back the string of my bow and began to shoot. He was fast, almost too fast. He managed to dodge every single arrow of mine. Austin then began for his assault on me by crossing over the bridge over the lava pools below. He was going to finish me if I didn’t get moving. I grabbed my hand-crafted stone battle-axe from my inventory and began to charge at him too.
Austin was at the edge of my podium, waiting to kill me. With a leap of faith, I managed to get in a giant chop at Austin’s helmet. Austin just stood there as his helmet was bisected right down the middle and fell off his head. He had lost a good chunk of his defense, just from the first hit! It was incredible!
“Not Bad Tactic,” he started, “But can you take this??” With a huge jab with his sword, Austin managed to get a good hut on my chest plate. The dent was so obvious that the two spectators gasped for my safety. Luckily, it didn’t pierce through.
“Hmm, not shabby yourself Mario,” I remarked right back at him.
“Why thank you,” he gloated, “I take pride in my swordsmanship.”
“For a rookie, maybe.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing…”
“Take that back!” he exclaimed as he lunged at me. His blade was directly aimed for my heart, as he started to dive for me. Thanks to my quick reflexives, I managed to stop Austin’s attack by using my axe as a shield. Not the best move in the world, but what else could I do when my life was at stake?
Austin started to advance his attack. He was starting to push me back, onto the bridge overhanging the lava pits. His force soon became overwhelming as I lost grip of my axe and it went right into the lava below. I will never forget the scaring sizzle the axe made while being disintegrated. Austin put his sword right in front of my chest with myself about to tip over into the lava and meet a grave fate like my axe.
“This can be over and done,” he began, “if you just hand over the badge.”
“Over my dead body!” I shouted in his face.
“Perfect. That’s all you had to say.” He kicked me into the pit below, with my hand right hand grasping onto the ledge of the bridge. My helmet went flying into the lava, making the exact same sound of my axe as it too burned up as well. My feet were also losing grip on my boots as they started to slip out. Shock came rushing to my face as I saw my fate below. I wasn’t going to let another cocky trainer walk out of here with my badge. No, that wasn’t my job; I had to show this punk who he was messing with.
“Any last words before you respawn and hand over my rightfully-earned badge?” He cockily asked, snorting a bit after.
“Indeed I do,” I replied, “Catch!”
Thanks to my amazingly strong legs, with all my might left, I flung my legs in a way that sent the boots flying right into his face. The knockback was so incredibly strong that it sent Austin plumbing into the lava below. All of his armor, tools, weapons; all burned and destroyed from the intensity of the lava. And so went him too in the blaze meant to kill me.
I managed to pull myself back up onto the bridge and take off my heavy armor. Draco and Frenzy went wild from behind the glass spectators room. They couldn’t have been more happy for my victory. And so was I. For the first time in a long time, I had actually won a gym battle. Maybe this was the dawn of a new start for the Fuchisa gym. Maybe it was also for me.
Whatever it was, I was just happy I didn’t have to give away another badge.
