For second-best out of the two fighters announced that day! Zing! Commandment of Hero: Ersatz Struggle, for its eighth and possibly but ideally not final participant, went out in a big way, or continued in a big way, or anyway, it was Lynissia. The sign advertising her family's hotel that won the patronage of thousands and the koala outfit that charmed them signaled to all that ISOT Insoft knew what was up. Since her panda Eclipse version came in less than a year ago, everyone still recognized her base form that the trailer used. Consequently, officers began declaring themselves Lynissia boosters before her gameplay snippet finished.

“I declare my support for cuteness!” Xentas bellowed. Nautical Wedding Manyana and Crusher Domingo both signed up for that voyage, Yutak Zvolo agreed to tour with them, Otsk V. Zops took up the hunt, Spenito Niu confessed to having a dog in that race, Wilma Greenhill accepted a new situation, and Ragnel came from Holy Legend Army, so not many officers knew what her job was supposed to be according to the lore.

“I also am for cuteness,” she said, which sufficed.

“Cuteness be tarred and feathered,” Crown After Crown declared. “I can't stand still and paw the ground with my hooves when my comrade from that Enzet tournament might be going places if she gets some help. Fighting games are usually about tournaments, I've noticed. Just right for Lynie, eh? The only thing better than nostalgia is tomorrow, if you ask me.”

“I was in that tournament too,” Cadmos reminded him.

“Oh, were you?”

“I won it, in fact.”

“Can't say I recall that part. The result couldn't have been too meaningful, eh?”

“I had to win in order to warn people that Morado Ven was a malevolent space pirate. That was the entire purpose of the story chapter.”

“Well, we can agree to remember the relative importance of certain story elements differently.”

“Oh, definitely. Anyway, let's settle down and remember to congratulate Gradis and Lynissia on their selection for Commandment of Heroes: Ersatz Struggle.”

“Cadmos, you don't have to remind us to be nice this time. We're being nice. At least, we will be once we're sure who Gradis P. Dorenz really is.” Tiboleus the Experimenter had a tape measure up against the monitor, which was already replaying the short video. He jotted down a few quick numbers and spoke again with full confidence in his conclusions. “Going by Bertillon measurements, estimated as well as I can with this footage, the man pictured is Santa C. Dorenz in disguise.”

“Here you go kid, you earned this.” Nonneros Under the Moonlight handed a booklet containing the relevant papers for his luxury flight over to Tiboleus and slapped Santa on the back with the fist that no longer needed to curl tight around his dough. “You're doing great work out there, and you haven't even done anything yet. That's efficiency. That Nova, what is it, a seven-hundred-twenty-degree throw? Count me in for Team 720.”

Knight-Master Gralles Alianura stroked his own immaculately trimmed mustache. “Some of the most virile gameplay I've ever seen in one of these fight-'em-ups. Well done, Santa. Well done.”

The reluctance on the part of several officers to join the spinoff madness collapsed then, hurled, as it were, off the top of a cage by the U********* to plummet through the announcer table below. Naturally Gradis P. Dorenz's wife and household chef, Nixa N. Dorenz and Orrevan C. Hinks respectively, decided to support him, just as naturally as his number one warrior, Hemt Y. Zelf, was already busy. Lurdden Casguir and Ebulan Prav hustled over with no story connection to bind them to Gradis but only their admiration for accomplished wrestlers.

More tribute to the new entrant's virtues came from Trainer Eumorsedio. “The body is a temple, a tool, and a weapon, all at once. You, Santa C. Dorenz, or Gradis, or whatever you wanna call yourself, are showing us that. Showing us what we lack. It's tenacity, it's explosiveness. Even Cadmos doesn't have that, and he's the hero.”

“His Nova is a big explosion. I just defended Cadmos. I have to go.” Ulrik ran out of the dining hill and off the nearest cliff, which happened to be in Brenlond, Gradis's homeland. More evidence of grappler superiority.

Hot Air Hank also recognized it. “Well now, I'm not so sure as I'd go praising a feller for bodily achievements when he looks the way Santy does, but I'm willing to admit I'm shallower than the king's authority. That's just inside Lanmaran though, and elsewheres I been countries they got water you can see yourself in, so I've got full awareness of my own limitations in that regard. What I mean to say is that I got a proposal somebody might like, and if anyone deserves first shot at it, well, I forgot to leave cookies out last year, so this is by way of making up for that. You coming, Azalea?”

“Sure am!” Heartful Azalea and Hot Air Hank signed up for Team 720, which rushed out along with the Lynissia-focused Team Plushy to pick out clubhouses before the inevitable command to attend a data capture session. The other real teams went as well, leaving a few officers to rewatch the footage and maybe lick the monitor a little bit.

“Who's up for some philosophy? The Inthecorner channel isn't just about the highest-quality informational videos, after all. It's about self-improvement. Be sure to Like, subscribe, and comment down below if you want us to keep improving. I've started to believe in cycles, and in particular, the cycle of grapplers. It goes something like this. First you say, oh, look at that big body, look at that damage. You're happily throwing everyone around. Who wouldn't be happy about that?

“But then you start paying more and more attention to what your opponents are doing. All the moves and tricks that they have, and most of all, the mobility. Then you start learning somebody else, maybe get deep into the biggest corner combos you can stream together, then you get upset about zoners, then you turn to puppets. And after you harvest enough tears that your cup runneth over, you remember the pure joy of grabbing and slamming.

“I'm on that part of the cycle right now, so it was a real pleasure to me to see that when ISOT showed off a pair of new characters for Struggle, one of them was this specimen. Look at this big body, look at this piledriver, it's just what we need right now. I'm on the Dorenz train right now, but by the time the game comes out, who knows? Maybe the wheel will have turned. Maybe we'll be looking more at this, I don't know, restaurant advertisement? Well, in this video, we'll look hard at both of them and tell you everything you have to know going forward.”