It was time. It was the first day of the Le Monde fighting tournament. Vincent was in his cell, pacing back and forth in anticipation. He was ready. He was more than ready. Unlike his fights from before, he prepared and trained for this day.

As he walked from one side to another, without looking at Fang, he said, “Alright, alright, alright.”

“You good? Are you ready to go?” Fang asked.

“Oh yeah, I’m more than good. I’m on top of the world.”

“Just make sure you actually pay attention to your opponent while you’re up there.” Fang then stuck their leg out in front of Vincent, who was looking at the ceiling.

“What do you…” But before he finished that thought, he tripped on Fang’s leg. Luckily, he managed to catch himself in time. “Nice try.”

Fang just chuckled a bit, smiled, and patted Vincent in the back. “Just pay attention.”

Clink Clink

One of the Collider guards was waiting on the other side of the bars. He looked plainly at Vincent and said, “Vincent Huron, it’s time for your round one match.”

“Alright, let’s do this,” Vincent replied, walking out of the opened cell.

Just before he left, Fang spoke up. “Don’t forget what we talked about.”

“I know, I know,” Vincent replied with a smile. “I gotta win because there are no second chances anymore.”

“Well yeah, but I’m talking about the other thing.”

Vincent looked at them for a few seconds before it dawned on him what they were talking about. Wordlessly, Vincent just gave them a thumbs up to show that he understood what they were talking about.

As he walked down a very familiar path, Vincent just kept his mind focused and sharp. Although his thoughts wandered a few times, he managed to bring himself right back. He wasn’t going to underestimate anyone in the Collider anymore. He had to win to get out.

It wasn’t long before he reached the arena doors. Unlike the other times, the doors looked somehow different to him. He couldn’t place his finger and what it was, but something about them seemed off—not in a bad way, just in a different way. It was as if what the doors hid behind them actually meant something. Beyond the doors lied his destiny—one that he only had one chance to achieve.

Then they opened. The light of the future began to fill the hallway. Without hesitation, he walked onwards towards the arena, towards his redemption.

Unlike his other fights, the stands were filled to the brim. People were cheering and acting crazy. It finally felt like he was actually in a proper fight, not just a scummy underground one.

As he made his way towards his side, he got a good look at his opponent. He was a man of slightly above average proportions. They weren’t as tall as Vincent, but still somewhat tall. Their skin was an olive-tan color and their hair was short and brown. The one thing that really stuck out about the man was his forearms. They weren't impossible huge or anything or the sort, but it was obvious that whatever they did, it worked them out pretty regularly.

In addition, the other thing that seemed a bit different was his choice in apparel. Everything that he wore seemed to be super tight against his body. His shirt, his pants, and even his socks were form-fitted and tight.

The announcer began their typical routine. “Today, folks, we have a good match for you! On one side we have a rookie who fell from grace in the Gold Pillar, hoping to make something of themselves. Give it up for Hulkan Camicia.”

The crowd roared and cheered. Hulkan, turned around, faced the crowd, and threw his hands in the air in order to rile them up even more. They had a bit of a cocky smile to them, and their confidence was showing through.

“And on this side,” the announcer continued, “we have a familiar face, one that was black and blue not too long ago.”

The crowd roared again, but instead of cheering, Vincent could hear that it was obviously laughter that came from the stands.

“Ambitious he was, taking on the champion, it looks like reality caught up to him. Hopefully he doesn’t get hurt too hard today! Give it up for Vincent Huron!”

Weirdly, the crowd got a bit quieter. There wasn’t a lot of cheering, but rather the noise seemed to be made completely up of talking. No one was paying attention to Vincent anymore.

“Let the most profitable fighter win and let the fight begin!”

Vincent immediately got into a defensive stance and looked around. This opening move was hammered into him by Fang. For once in his life, he was going to try being defensive instead of going on the offensive.

Unlike Vincent, Hulkan immediately took off towards him. As he ran towards him, Vincent focused and scanned all around him. His first point of order was to determine whether his opponent was a Resonator or not. That was something that he and Fang had talked about at length during the weeks leading up to the tournament.

With all that they shared between one another, they concretely determined that those headaches that Vincent gets are an indicator of a Resonator using their powers. They figured that whichever side of the head the headache was was the general direction of a Resonator. They weren’t too sure on any details past that, but they decided to just go on the assumption that all other Resonators had this capability too.

With that in mind, Vincent really focused on his now-approaching opponent, trying to determine if they were using any sort of powers. As soon as Hulkan got about halfway to Vincent, felt a slight throb at the front of his skull. Bingo.

With a slight smile, he got ready to launch a starbreaker at the last second. After all, he couldn’t let the other person know that he was a Resonator until there was nothing they could do about it.

Just as Hulkan got into melee, Vincent’s mind sank down into a familiar emptiness. With one swift movement, he threw a starbreaker directly aimed at Hulkan’s face. Unfortunately, something a bit unexpected happened. Just as Vincent’s fist rocketed towards its target, he felt someone grab his shirt and yanked it down. Because of this, the punch went slightly off target and the void just appeared in thin air.

At the same time, he saw Hulkan wind up for a punch. Fortunately, Vincent was prepared for various circumstances—some of those being instances where he missed his first attack. He managed to use the momentum from his punch and spin around to avoid Hulkan’s strike. As he did, he continued that momentum and funneled it into a spinning kick that handed square against Hulkan’s head.

Vincent, rather than continuing to blindly attack, chose to put some distance between them. He was proud of himself for thinking a bit before acting.

Looking back in Hulkan’s direction, he expected to see him doing the same thing, possibly reeling from the fact that he took a hit. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. Running full speed towards him was Hulkan, smiling crazily.

“That was a good one, I’ll give you that,” Hulkan laughed.

Unsure of what to do, Vincent tried to hop back a few feet to put even more distance between them.

“Oh no you don’t,” Hulkan yelled, reaching his arm out.

As he did, Vincent felt that same sensation as before. His shirt was pulled towards the man, like an invisible hand was grabbing it, and he was dragged right along with it. Because of this, the gap that was between them was no longer there.

Hulkan launched a right hook and it collided with Vincent’s face. Vincent continued to try and back away, but was kept pretty much in place. This whole situation brought back memories of his childhood when he would get in trouble and try to run away from Robert. Robert would grab the back of his shirt and hold him in place.

Snapping back to reality, Vincent was being pummeled by punches. Taking a second to take a deep breath, Vincent felt his body grow a bit colder. He created a void in front of him, pushing Hulkan away.

As soon as he released the void, he saw that there was now some distance between them and Hulkan was laying on the floor. Then, like a rake being stepped on, Hulkan shot up to his feet. He then looked at Vincent and just continued to smile.

“Oh boy, I can tell this is going to be a fun fight,” he said. “Looks like I’m going to have to get a bit serious, here.”

As he said that, he began to almost slightly float off the ground. He then gilded back and forth in place, his feet and legs not moving at all. To show off his prowess, he then started to glide all around the arena, not engaging in the fight at all.

He threw his hands in the air and was continuing to rile up the crowd. In response, the crowd started to get louder and louder.

“You don’t stand a chance, now,” Hulkan laughed.

As he said that, he shifted his movement towards Vincent, gliding right towards him. Vincent, with some time to think, decided to try and dodge at the last second to see what would happen. Just when Hulkan got back into melee range, Vincent jumped to the side with all his might to try and avoid the hit.

Just like last time, the moment he went to move out of the way, something seemed to grab his clothes and yank him right back where he was. Because of that, Vincent was right back where Hulkan wanted him.

Hulkan stuck his arm out and clotheslined Vincent, knocking him straight to the ground on his back. Hulkan didn’t bother to continue his attack, instead opting to continue to glide around the perimeter of the arena, throwing his fists in the air.

The crowd started to chat, in unison, “HULKAN! HULKAN! HULKAN!”

Vincent stood up, brushed the dirt off of him, and got back into a defensive stance. Hulkan, however, was still slightly hovering off the ground, now on the opposite side of the arena. He looked at Vincent, smiled, and laughed a hardy laugh.

“You hear that!?” he roared out. “They all know I’m the best!” He then turned and faced the crowd, yelling as loud as he could “Listen up! I’m the strongest there’ll ever be! You’re looking at the soon-to-be new champ of the Collider!”

Vincent spit a bit of blood on the ground and just watched it all go down. He slowed his breathing down and kept his guard up.

Hulkan turned back towards Vincent and said, “And boy, you’re about to find out why I’m the strongest.”