//------------------------------//
// Good Sportsmanship? Where? 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"And that, word for word, is what he asked me to tell you," Howe finished, giving Valey a curtsy. "You have had a gauntlet thrown down."

"Yeah, well tell this Yulio to take a hike," Valey replied, busy stretching. "I have a fight to get to."

Howe unscrupulously scurried away, leaving Valey groaning internally. To be fair, it wasn't like she should have expected to make it through the tournament without making a few enemies. She had even seen Yulio looking at her that night in the restaurant. Still, someone who would rather challenge her by deliberately one-upping something she had done instead of telling her they were a rival to her face... If he could do that, he was dangerous. Especially when one of the fighters he had beaten that way was Morena.

She rubbed her cutie mark, making her way to the exit for her fight. It was still bothering her, a low-key, extremely constant tingling that served to put her on edge more than anything. That didn't stop it from working, fortunately. Thinking about punching the buffest creature in the room and starting a backstage brawl still sent waves of bad idea down her flanks. But was it malfunctioning, or was this a sign that she should pack up and go home?

The latter wasn't on the table. Valey fixed her grin back on her face. She had come this far in the tournament, and finally had a reason she cared about to see it through to the end: no reason whatsoever. Sure, it would be dangerous, but so was every other thing she had done in her life, and she wasn't going to leave herself with regrets about this one.

Straightening her beret, Valey marched up the staircase towards the battlefield.





"Alright!" Valey demanded, strolling out into the morning light. "So how's this gonna go? Two against one? Gonna try your odds ganging up on me?"

Neither of her opponents were listening. Diego was having an intense stare-down with a wiry griffon in a teal shawl who sported impossibly sharp eyes. "Stand back, Valey," Diego warned, holding a hoof out without blinking or looking away. "They might have scheduled this as a last-pony-standing, but for me it's a grudge match. You sit tight and just fight the winner."

Valey blinked, scratching her head. "Is that legal?"

"Master Kickface knows no rules except kicking face," the griffon replied in a thin, tweedy voice. "And his feet have been CHALLENGED!"

Valey covered her ears from the force of his avian outburst, backing off a few steps. "Okay! Okay, a little personal history here. Look, I just wanna fight someone good, but you two clearly have a thing going..."

A series of explosions sounded from the other side of the field as a unicorn engaged in the simultaneous match at the other side of the field let off some gigantic spell. It sounded more like a backfire than an attack, but Diego and Master Kickface took it as a cue to start, sailing into each other with gusto. The griffon's hind paw collided with Diego with a terrific thwack, but even as Diego flipped backwards from the force, he turned the momentum into an attack of his own, slicing upward with his augmented horn and scoring a tear on Kickface's shawl.

"Uhhh..." Valey stood and stared, entirely unsure if she should do anything. Master Kickface kicked again, and Diego met it with a punch from a reinforced combat boot, a shockwave of force crackling as the tides seemingly turned in his favor.

"SCRAWWWWW!" Master Kickface hollered, pivoting and dancing, conceding ground before charging Diego's side with a jump and a bicycle kick. Diego rolled away from the blows, but Kickface's momentum changed midair with a flap of his wings, and he landed his namesake straight on Diego's head.

Diego writhed backwards, spinning away on the ground to guard his face as he grappled the limb that had struck, preventing his foe from getting away, He swung his hindquarters into a kick, lashing into the griffon's midsection with two more combat boots and sending his opponent tumbling backwards.

Master Kickface skidded to a stop, but Diego had time to get up, and they both stared each other down, breathing heavily. "You have learned from my technique," the griffon raspily remarked. "But you cannot surpass THE MASTER!"

"Uh, guys?" Valey held out a hoof as the pair flew at each other again. "Not that I'm complaining about a free win if you beat each other up too much to fight me, but I kinda have nothing to-"

Her cutie mark twinged suddenly in intensity, and she sidestepped, a boulder torn from the floor and launched by the nearby battle rolling right through the space where she had stood. Diego and Master Kickface weren't so lucky to have the powers of foresight she did, and the rock clipped the griffon's tail, earning a yowl of fury.

"Who dares?" Kickface demanded, breaking away from Diego and holding up a talon for peace as he stalked toward the other melee.

"Scheduling issues," Diego replied, rubbing a bruise and sporting a considerable black eye. "Are you finished?"

Master Kickface spat on the ground. "Interruption for interruption. Let's mess them up so we can get back to our battle in peace."

Valey raised an eyebrow, taking a few steps after him. "Okay, I'm definitely sure that one is against the rules."

"The sarosian has no brain," Master Kickface admonished, shaking his head in determined exasperation and quickening his stride. "The only rule is KICKING FACE!"

Diego charged after him, leaving Valey blinking and following along with caution. The other battle was between Saffron, a small unicorn with a large horn, and a pegasus who looked to be having a very bad day. Valey raced closer, sizing up the situation... Saffron had spotted Kickface coming and was fighting a defensive battle, her horn projecting a shield, mostly covering for herself while the smaller unicorn held the pegasus in a bad position. The unicorn looked up at the last second, ears folding as he realized what he was about to be hit by.

"Wyaaah! WAAA!" Master Kickface threw himself into the other battle, heading straight for the little unicorn who was most likely the cause of the boulder. He spun into a whirling kick, the unicorn bracing himself for impact... but the pegasus wasn't a slouch, taking advantage of her captor's distraction and kicking him in the horn. Kickface grabbed the unicorn, preparing to boot him with a paw.

"...Do you mind?" Sunflower called, looking heavily exasperated.

Master Kickface did mind, kicking the smaller unicorn like a kickball straight at Saffron's head. But the pegasus, having had more than enough and fighting everything in self-defense, immediately retaliated with a ferocious hind kick directly between Kickface's legs, causing his eyes to bug in pain.

"Hey!" Saffron cried, her shield flickering and breaking as the unicorn's horn exploded again, sending out an unstable shockwave right before hitting it. She staggered back, giving Kickface a glare while staying well out of range of her thrown opponent. "You wanna fight that way? Better be prepared to get back what you put in!"

As Saffron stomped forward, Diego blew past her, grabbing the pegasus who had attacked Kickface and grappling her away. "No! That's my rival! I'm the one who'll be defeating him this tournament!"

Kickface wheezed, suddenly free, only to see Saffron bearing down on him. Rolling upright, he juked around a horn blast, preparing to fight her as well, and launched into a vicious, signature flying kick.

That was the point where Valey decided enough was enough. "Nope!" she called, flipping above Master Kickface and grabbing him from above. Before he could even reach Saffron, she latched onto his tail, swung him like a hammer throw, and slammed him into the ground, finishing with a winding blow to his chest as he landed.

"Not your battle, and that's my friend," Valey lectured, standing on the griffon's head. Below her, he wheezed and passed out.

"To be fair, we were asking for this to happen," Saffron apologized, re-summoning her shield. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to-"

Another horn backfire sounded a short distance away, and Diego slumped to the ground, having been ganged up on by the pegasus he tackled and the small, unstable unicorn. "Huh," Valey remarked when he didn't rise. "I guess I win."