The next morning, the recruits all woke up and began to do stretches just outside. Shining Armor strolled up as they were doing hoof stands.
“Blaze, I don’t even know how you got everyone to do these stretches you do,” said the Captain of the Unicorn Guards.
“They saw how I was performing in the sparring rings and how I maintained my balance in very awkward positions,” he replied. “I told them how and they started to follow me in my stretches.”
“And because of it, I no longer get the privilege to wake them up.”
“You did get to wake up Al a few days ago. Did you not enjoy that?” the red stallion asked with a grin.
Shining Armor had a shiver go down his back. He just started to walk away. “After breakfast, head to the arena. I’ll see you there.” He then teleported away.
The trainees laughed and fell over, either onto their backs or onto their stomachs. They collected themselves and headed to the mess hall, just to grab a light breakfast of fruit. As the ponies and the human began to eat, they discussed what the possible matches could be.
“Alright, who do you want to face in round one, fellas?” Star Dust asked.
“I want to go against you, Blaze,” Al replied. “I want an opponent that can handle what I can dish out. Plus, I want to see all those Jutsu and ki moves you know.”
“You can take him. Just dealing with one of his elements was tough enough, said Dragon. “I hope I can fight with my brother. We both know each other's moves and want to prove who is better in the arena.”
“You know I’ll kick your flank this time,” Cancer said.
“But you haven’t yet. You rely too much on speed and that’s why I always beat you.”
“Knock it off you two before I give you another beat down,” Fang said.
“Yes, big sister.” Cancer and Dragon said at the same time.
“You must have given them quite a few to scare them straight,” Blaze said.
“I had to, or they would have destroyed our home several times. Now, the one I want to face is you, Al. I want to see how skillful you are against a living blade.” The zebra then shot a blade out of the top of her head and pointed it to him.
“My daggers will be more than enough to defend myself,” replied Al.
“I don’t care who I get paired up against. They will have to deal with my illusions,” Colorful Sparks said as he created another one of him sitting next to Lightning Trails.
The black Pegasus sent a jolt into the illusion to make it disappear. “Whoever is going to face me is going to get a shock of their life. But won’t die from it,” he said.
“Just remember to keep that anger in check,” the red Unicorn said. “I don’t really care who I face first as you all are worthy opponents and have been a privilege to train with.”
The others all awe at what he said. They finished breakfast and made their way to the arena. When the trainees rounded the corner, they saw lots of guards heading through the main entrance to watch them. They then saw Captain Shining Armor wave to them as he stood next to the participant entrance. The ponies and single human headed over and stood at attention.
“Alright, today is the last part of your training. You’ll be matched up and compete to show what you’ve learned,” said the white stallion. “This is a single-elimination tournament, so the winner will advance and face another one of you that also won their match. Follow me to the arena so we can find out who is in the first match.”
The group followed him as they entered and made their way through the hallways. the party soon exited and arrived in the arena. Blaze looked around and saw the place was packed. The guards that weren’t on duty came to see the event.
The place was more packed than the match of Swift Blaze and Shining Armor. The recruits stood in the center and faced the royal box where Princess Celestia was, but Princess Luna was absent.
The white Alicorn walked to the front of the box and raised her hoof. The crowd quieted down to listen to what she had to say. “Welcome fillies and gentle colts of the Royal Guard. It's that time again to see how the latest recruit managed to do through all the training you went through,” she said. “You’ll be surprised to hear that this is the first group in a long time to have no casualties during the survival training. They actually picked another up to join them. This new recruit’s name is Al, and is a human.”
The crowd of guards in the stands was all whispering to each other. Al bent over and whispered to Blaze, “Wondering what they are talking about?”
“Probably wondering if you’re like me and can do some of the same things I’ve done,” he replied. “I know some don’t like me for successfully evading them on my first visit to the castle in my human form. Just watch your back for now until we are Royal Guard ourselves.”
“I bet you are all wondering what this human has to offer. So let’s get started with him facing Fang, the Zebra pony,” Princess Celestia said.
“Guess I don’t have to wait for my match then. I’ll see you after the match,” said Al.
“I’ll teleport the rest of you to the participant box next to Princess Celestia’s box. That way you can watch the match. Have fun you two,” Shining Armor said. Then teleported the rest of them out of the ring.
---------------BATTLE MODE---------------
In the arena now only stood Fang and Al. They stood ten feet away from each other. The human took a ready stance to draw out his throwing blades that are in holders wrapped around his upper legs. The zebra prepped herself by having her blade already sticking out of her right forehoof.
“I had a feeling I would be going up against you. Hope you don’t mind fighting a mare,” Fang said.
He replied, “I got over it while in hell. I lost count of the number of women I had to kill. Some were skilled fighters.”
“I don’t plan to hold back.”
“I don’t want you to or this will end very quickly.”
“Let’s see how a human can fight.”
“We fight real good,” Al said in a southern accent
Fang got confused about what the human said. She shook it off and focused on the match.
The referee walked to the center of the ring and announced the rules. “Here are the rules for the match,” he said. “The entire space of the arena is your battleground. A barrier will prevent you, or any attack, from escaping the space. Any weapons that are in the arena is fair game to use, along with your abilities. The match will end with the following, knocking your opponent out, making them submit, or killing them. Anything else is fair game. Are you both ready?” The referee asked them. They both nodded their heads without taking an eye off the opponent. “BEGIN!” The ref shouted and teleported away.
Al drew fast and sent two daggers at high speed toward Fang. She deflected one and dodged the other. The mare then charged for the human to get within striking distance. She jumped up and was spinning to swing her hoof with the blade. Al drew a blade to block hers.
It was about to make contact when the blade disappeared and reappeared on the Zebra’s back right leg as she was still spinning. Al reacted fast and jumped backward to avoid the hit. He landed several feet away as Fang landed on all her hooves.
“That is a nice trick there. You almost had me,” Al said.
The mare replied, “You have some nice moves too. Shall we continue?”
Al didn’t say anything. His response was throwing three daggers this time. Two at the same time with the third following them. Fang moved her blade to deflect them. The two were blocked with no problem. She then spun out of the way to avoid the third.
What Fang did next surprised Al. As the third one went by her head, she grabbed the handle with her mouth as she was still spinning and sent the blade back to the human. He quickly moved as fast as he could to avoid it. The edge of the blade made a tiny cut across his cheek. Not enough to bleed, but it was noticeable that he got hit.
“Now that was un-ladylike,” Al said.
She replied, “I was just returning your property. It’s your fault you can’t catch.”
The human decided to change to a different blade. He reached behind his back and pulled out blades that also can be used as brass knuckles. Al slid his fingers into the proper holes and then signaled for Fang to come to get some. The Zebra didn’t argue as she charged faster this time with the blade on her left forehoof. She swung it at him and he blocked it. She quickly swapped it to her other forehoof and swung at him again. Al blocked that one too.
“You aren’t going to get me again with that move,” he said.
“How about this one?” she asked. The mare quickly spun around and did a buck right into his man jewels.
Al felt the hit and flew several feet back. He moaned out in pain as the crowd started to laugh. He coughed and said, “That’s a low blow.”
“Ref said anything goes. Are you going to quit now or do you want some more pain.”
“Not at all, you just surprised me. Now you get to find out why you never kick a man in the groin.”
The ground began to shake around Al. Fang saw what was happening and backed away to get out of range. Small pebbles began to float around Al in an orbit. They soon were joined by bigger rocks. The human looked at what was happening and a big grin showed up on his face.
“I should actually thank you for that kick. Looks like I do have control over gravity around me. Thanks for getting it awakened. NOW FEEL THE PAIN!” Al shouted.
Fang prepared her blade to block what could happen next. He was sending the pebbles out like bullets towards Fang. The Zebra was barely able to block some of them as she was pelted by the rest. They did not break her skin but was the force of a paintball hitting skin. Fang dodged out of their path and made her way to the arena wall and grabbed a metal shield. The pebbles were now pinging off it.
“Looks like I need to use a bigger caliper now,” Al said as he started to send rocks towards Fang.
The mare was still able to block them with the shield, but it was getting dented pretty good. She started to advance towards the human as she hid behind the shield. The speed of the projectiles was starting to slow down as he never used this power before under his control.
Fang took this opportunity to charge him. She dropped the shield so she can run faster. She jumped and dodged several of the rocks Al had sent to stop her. She was about to strike when she stopped moving forward. The human has suspended the Zebra in the air.
"I take it you forgot I had everyone floating in the barracks yesterday. I waited for you to take the bait and get within range. What are you going to do now seeing you can't move?" Al asked with a hand palm facing her.
"This," Fang replied. She stuck her right forehoof out and her blade came out and went through his hand.
Al screamed out in pain. The human sent the mare flying back towards the arena wall. He grabbed his hand that was now bleeding. Fang collided with the wall and made it crack. She landed on her hooves, but was barely standing. She smiled because she was happy that she landed a hit on this human.
Purple blood dripped from Al’s hand. When it hit the ground, it boiled to nothing. He looked at the Zebra and he was now angry. "YOU BITCH! THIS WAS MY FAVORITE HAND! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!" He shouted.
"How much?” She asked. “I don't think a human hand is worth that much. I don't even want to know where it has been."
The crowd was in a laughter roar now. This only enraged Al more. The ground around him began to break apart as the boulders were now floating. "Laugh about this!" he shouted as the human sent them flying in every direction.
The ones heading for the crowds were stopped by the barrier. Fang was dodging the best she could do, but being slammed into the wall did some damage to her. They were brazing her coat as they went by and left scratches. The area around Al was pretty much destroyed. He was pretty much standing on a pillar in a pit.
The big rocks continued to rise up and then flew towards Fang. Suddenly, one of them landed a hit on her back leg. There was a loud snap as she rolled away and hid behind a boulder.
She cried out in pain as she held onto her left rear hoof. "ENOUGH AL! I GIVE! STOP YOUR ATTACK!" Fang shouted out in pain.
"NO, I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU! YOU ARE GOING TO REMEMBER TO NOT PISS ME OFF!" Al said.
The barrage of boulders continued to fly and started to break apart the one Fang was hiding behind. She continued to cry out in pain.
Just then, there was a poof of smoke behind the human. Swift Blaze showed up and put a grapple wood jutsu on him. "Calm down Al! The match is over! You don't need to kill her. This isn’t hell! Remember, you’re in Equestria!" Blaze shouted as he held the Jutsu.
"But she stabbed my hand! She has to pay!" Al said as he tried to break free.
"You broke her leg! Chill out and regain your senses. Your hand can be healed. Life cannot be revived. Come back to us!"
The human let out a big roar and then went limp. Blaze waited for a few minutes before releasing him and bringing him to the edge of the pit. The medical staff was already getting Fang onto a stretcher and out of the arena. Blaze knelt down to Al and began to heal his hand to stop it bleeding. Shining Armor showed up and stood next to Blaze.
"Thanks for stepping in like that,” said the Unicorn Captain. “I never imagined he would go like that to a small injury. I don't even know if any guard could have stopped him without causing serious injury to him, or death."
"Being in hell for a year has really affected his mind,” replied the red Unicorn. “I detected that same energy from the forest to when he got hit in the balls. It has been growing pretty well since then. Then it boosted rapidly when his hand got stabbed. I have a feeling his gravity powers are anger controlled and he does not know how to control it yet."
"I don't want to lock him up or kill him if he can't control it."
"I will work with him at my house. The Zen garden in my backyard is set up to calm anyone down. I know what would happen if I lost my cool so I never wanted to go that way again."
"Let's get him back up to the participant box. You can finish healing him up there and make sure he doesn’t go into a rampage when he wakes up."
"Of course. I don't think he’ll remember much after the stabbing. He didn’t remember the battle in the old castle when we first found him."
They teleported out of the arena and Unicorn guards went to work getting the arena cleaned up for the next match.