The next morning, the trainees in the barracks woke up before dawn and headed outside for the stretch routine. They were all getting the hang of it and maintaining balance in the different positions. Once they were done, the recruits headed to the mess hall for breakfast.
“Alright, who do you think is going to win in Al vs Cancer match?” Fang asked.
“I’m rooting for my brother,” Dragon said.
“Thanks, bro,” Cancer replied.
“I too will also root for ya,” Fang said.
“Well, I’ll have to go with Al. Never underestimate a human. It’s in our DNA to fight,” Swift Blaze said.
“I agree. That fake body stunt you pulled on me last night really had my mind thinking dreadful things. Resulting in me letting my guard down,” Lightning Trails said.
“I don’t know. Gravity vs Speed. That’s a tough one to see which will win. I’ll cheer you both on,” Colorful Sparks said.
“I agree. That match will be amazing to see who will actually win,” Star Dust said.
“Either way, that match will probably be close. Now for the match between Colorful Sparks and Swift Blaze. Who’s going to win?” Fang asked.
“Swift Blaze, hands down,” said Al. “I want to fight him in the final round.”
“You first have to defeat Cancer, if you want a chance to battle me,” Swift Blaze said.
“Hey! Don’t think I’ll easily allow you to win against me,” said Colorful Sparks. “I’m going to make you work for it as I want to win.”
“I never want my opponents to make it easy for me. I enjoy a good fight between friends.”
“You’re going to have a difficult time with Swift Blaze,” said Cancer. “I have never heard a pony with so many abilities. He’s probably on the same level as the Princesses.”
“I’m no way as powerful as them. They can move the sun and the moon. My mind is still having a hard time grasping at that from a scientific standpoint. I’m sure they could defeat me if they had to.”
“Now that would be a sight to see. Swift Blaze getting his flank kicked around by the Princesses,” Star Dust said with a chuckle.
Everyone was now laughing at that. They finished eating and made their way back to the arena. Star Dust, Fang, Dragon, and Lightning Trails waved goodbye as they split off to head to the participant box. Al, Cancer, Swift Blaze, and Colorful Sparks went into the arena entrance. Once through the long hallway, they arrived at the arena. It looked different this time as small house structures were everywhere. It was a mini village in the arena. Shining Armor appeared with a smile on his face.
“This is where you’re going to do battle today. If you would please follow me to the center, Princess Celestia will explain,” said the white Unicorn.
They made it to the designated space. The group had to weave around several buildings to get there. It was set up like other towns where they hold markets and festivals. The recruits then looked toward Princess Celestia as she was about to speak.
“Welcome to the next part of the tournament,” she said. “As you can see, you’re going to do battle in this urban environment. This will show us how you handle fighting in tight spaces. All of these buildings are empty except for a few. Some will have things that could help you in battle or you might find some of the traps that will hurt you. Also, with these next matches, there will be no use of your abilities.”
The crowd cheered after hearing this. The recruits were having different feelings among them. They were happy it was an even playing field, yet frustrated with fighting like this.
Al leaned over and whispered into Blaze’s ear, “Dude, this is C.O.D. in real life!”
“But, there will be no bullets,” the red stallion whispered back. “Still, be on your toes as a pony can still hit you hard with their hooves.”
The white Alicorn started to speak again, “So, for the first match, we will have Al vs Cancer. I’m going to teleport you to different parts of the arena. From there, you’ll have to find your opponent and defeat them with what you find available. Colorful Sparks and Swift Blaze, Captain Shining Armor will take you to the participant box. Good luck everyone.”
With that, the Princess and the Unicorn captain activated their horns and teleported the trainees. Once Al was in another part of the arena, he quickly went into Call of Duty style. He hugged the walls and peeked around the corners. He was having the time of his life right now. As he snuck around quietly, he looked into the building’s window to see if anything was in there. The first several were bare empty. He knew he needed to find a weapon fast if he wanted a chance to survive.
Cancer was walking between the buildings, looking for Al. He did not bother to look in the buildings as he didn’t need a weapon to defeat Al now. The stallion believed he'd only need his hooves and a surprise attack. He looked around each corner and behind himself as he walked. He also tried to listen for any sounds out of the ordinary.
Al finally saw a chest in one of the buildings. He was excited and quickly went in. He looked around for any traps before making his way to the chest. He checked to see if it was locked. Lucky for him, it wasn’t. Once he opened it, he was confused as to why this would be here. Inside was a set of regular clothes. A pair was in a human body and the other was in a pony body. Al wondered why in a tournament match would they supply just regular clothing.
Realizing ponies normally don’t wear clothes, these must have some unique properties. He changed into the human set right there. He was now wearing gray pants and a gray long sleeve shirt. He left and closed the door and continued to look for Cancer and a weapon.
The Zebra covered about half the arena now as he wasn’t wasting time with the buildings. He then realized they are probably circling each other. He reversed the direction of his search and quickly went back the way he came, while still being quiet.
Al continued his search for a weapon. He wished he had his daggers as he was the best with throwing knives. Thinking about it now, they won’t do him much good in these tight spaces. He needed a sword or a mace. He came into another building that had another chest inside. When he opened the door, he heard something click. All of a sudden, the stone ground he was standing on sent him flying up into the air. He screamed as he flew as a reaction. The human crash-landed through a roof and landed on the floor of another building. He was dazed from landing on his head.
As Cancer was going the opposite way he originally was, he then heard a scream in the air. He looked up and saw Al was falling out of control to the opposite side of the arena. He was so close to him before Al got launched, he wished he could use his ability to catch up. Not wanting to break the rules, the stallion started to run in the direction where Al was falling towards.
The human was shaking off the daze quickly. He knew he had to move quickly as he gave away his position from all that screaming. He looked around to where he landed. He saw he landed in a building with a chest. Al opened and just put on the biggest smile he could do. Inside were weapons. He grabbed a belt inside and put it on. Next, Al picked up a sword and attached it to the belt. He then gathered several daggers and placed them in the holders around the belt. Once done, Al went to leave and now look for his opponent. When he went to open the door, he saw a metal shield hanging on the back of the door. He snagged it and left.
Cancer was getting close as he saw a building in his sight with a big hole in the roof. He then sees Al come out of the door with weapons and a shield. Cancer ducts behind some crates very quickly before he was spotted. He wanted to kick himself in the flank now as his opponent had weapons and he didn't. He now needed some if he wanted to win.
The Zebra peeked around the crate to see which way Al was going to head. Cancer saw that the human was heading away from him. Once Al was out of sight, he went up to the same building Al came out of. Cancer was hoping there would be some weapons left that he could use. He went inside and straight to the chest. There were two short swords that are designed to attach to hoofs and can fold up. He put them on and left, moving fast and quiet to catch up to Al.
The human was now ready to take on his opponent. He just had to find him. Al moved faster through the mini size village looking for his opponent. After a few minutes, he realized this method of searching was not going to work. He needed a higher point of view if he wanted to spot Cancer.
Al remembered there was a tall statue in the center of the arena. It was at least twice as tall as these buildings. A good sniper point, if he had a sniper rifle. He looked above the buildings and spotted it. The human ran towards it as fast as he could. Once in the center, Al climbed it and perched himself at the top. He began to scan the area, looking for any movement.
Cancer was now running at full speed. He lost sight of Al and had no clue where he went. He wasn’t paying attention to his path, to make sure he was not overlapping places he has already been. It was difficult as everything looked the same and there was an infinite amount of routes to take from one side to another.
All of a sudden, the stallion heard a clanked sound just behind him. Cancer quickly turned one hundred eighty degrees to see what it was. A dagger has embedded itself into the stone path. From the angle of entry, he saw it was thrown from a high point. He peeked around the corner in the direction the dagger came from. The Zebra saw a tall statue with someone on it.
“Shit. I missed my target. Cancer was really hoofing it for me to miss. It won’t happen next time,” Al said.
The human had just thrown a dagger over fifty yards once he saw the path his opponent was taking. He prepared another blade to throw once Al saw him.
Cancer now realized how lucky he was that the blade missed him. He had to figure out a way to get to the human, without being spotted. The paths and roofs are out because he will easily be spotted by Al from his perch. The only option he could see was to go through the buildings.
The stallion entered the first one he was next to. Once the door closed behind him, out of nowhere, he got blasted with a magic spell. This trap spell would cause the pony to be off-balance and not able to focus. The other way to put it, Cancer will appear to be drunk. Stumbling around now, he left the house and staggered around the path. He started to head toward the human on the path the dagger took.
Al saw the Zebra had appeared where he last saw him. Something appeared to be off on him as he was all over the place. He couldn’t get a bead on the path Cancer was taking as it was chaotic. He started to throw daggers, one after another, taking a chance one would injure the pony and stop him from approaching.
Cancer couldn’t tell that daggers were flying by him or how he was able to dodge them. All he could feel is that he needed to get to that big thingy in the center. The human soon ran out of daggers as he looked over his belt for one.
“Guess I’ll have to fight him directly now. I would like to find out how he was able to dodge me with ease,” he said.
The human climbed back down and stood in front of the statue. Now he just has to wait for his opponent to finish getting down here. Cancer was making good progress in reaching the center. Even with stumbling around and colliding with crates that were in the path. He finally made it to the center and did his best to stand.
“Ahh. There you *hic* are Al. Ya ready for a flank whooping?” the Zebra asked while sounding intoxicated.
“Cancer, are you drunk?” the human asked. “Where did you find booze in the arena? Did you save me some?”
“I AIN’T DRUNK! Have not *hic* had any since *hic*coming to training.”
“Dude, you walk like a drunk and speak like a drunk. If not by alcohol, then what caused you to act like that?”
“Don’t know. Maybe the *hic* magic blast I *hic* got hit with.”
“That’s a new way to get drunk without drinking. I don’t want that to happen to me. Shall we get to the fight now.” Al pulled his sword out and readied his shield.
Cancer extended his blades as he tried to keep his balance. “Whenever you are ready, pretty boy.”
The human moved first and swung his sword at the Zebra. Cancer’s body was moving like water and avoided the attack. Al continued to swing his weapon, hoping to land a blow. It looked like the stallion was dancing around his opponent as he avoided each blow. Al was getting frustrated by now. He did a shield slam against Cancer’s head. It made contact and sent him flying backwards a few feet.
Cancer literally got the daze knocked out of him. He could think clearer and regain control of his body. “Thanks for the head blow. You took out that spell that I was under,” he said.
“Great, can we now really fight and not have you dancing around like a drunken fool?” Al asked.
Then Cancer went on the offensive this time and swung both his swords at Al. The human was blocking with his shield and sword. Each blow to the shield created a nice size dent in it.
“Dang, you ponies are stronger than you look. Swift Blaze wasn’t kidding.” Al said.
He was being pushed back as Cancer wasn’t letting up with his attacks. The Zebra finally got a blade under the shield and cut the straps that were holding it to the human's arm. The shield went flying as Cancer’s sword flung it up.
With nothing to protect that side, Al was going to have to rely on his arm to at least block one blow. With his only sword blocking one of the stallion's blades, he swung the free one at Al. The human closed his eyes and braced for the pain that was about to come.
*CLANK*
Al didn’t feel any pain. He opened his eyes and saw what happened. The clothing he found had transformed into a suit of armor. He shoved Cancer back as he too was surprised at what happened. He looked himself over before turning his gaze to Cancer.
“Aw yeah!. I got a suit of armor! Time for round two!” Al shouted.
“Where did you get that?” Cancer asked.
“Found it in one of the buildings. Thought it was odd to find normal clothing. Turns out it changes to a nice suit of armor. Prepare for your flank to get KICKED!”
Al charged him with his sword, now being held by both hands. Cancer was now on the defensive as he was still in shock of what happened. He thought he had the match when Al lost his shield. He wanted to kick his own flank for not looking through the buildings when this started. Now Al will kick it for him.
The human saw the stallion was getting fatigued from blocking his attack. He too felt it creeping upon him. Now wearing the armor was putting a strain on his body as he isn't used to the weight of it. He needed to finish this soon. In a quick motion, Al cut the straps that held a blade to Cancer’s hoof. The next one soon followed. With no weapons or armor, the Zebra was pinned in a corner, nowhere to go.
“Do you yield?” Al asked.
“I do. You have beaten me fair and square. Congratulations,” Cancer replied.
Al’s eyes have not left looking at Cancer. He raised his sword behind him like he was about to deal a fatal slash to Cancer. The zebra eyes grew wide with fear. Wondering what has gotten into the human.
“Al, you won. You can stop with the attacks,” Cancer said in fear.
“There can only be one,” Al said with a Scottish accent.
The stallion closed his eyes and the human swung the blade. He waited for the blow. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes and saw Al’s face was very close to him now. The blade was at the edge of his neck, but not touching.
Al moved one hand up to Cancer’s nose. He squeezed it while saying, “HHHHOOONNNKKK.”
Cancer just fainted right then and fell to the ground. Al turned his gaze to the shocked crowd of what happened. “I’ve always wanted to say that!” Al said. He laughed as he walked away.
Only one pony joined in the laughter from what Al heard. The pony shouted, “BEST HIGHLANDER MOVE EVER!” Al recognized it was Swift Blaze, who else would get the joke.
Shining Armor appeared in the town center and walked up to Al. "Did you really plan on killing him?” he asked.
“Of course not,” replied Al. “It’s not everyday when I can reenact a movie scene from my world. Blaze and I will tell you about it and you would get the joke.”
“Death sometimes happens during the match as ponies get caught up in the moment. It never happens when one is declared the winner and almost takes the loser’s head off!”
“Chill. I promise you that wasn't going to happen. Besides, this blade isn't sharp enough to go through bones in one slice. I would have gotten it stuck in the spine.”
Shining Armor snorted a puff of smoke out of his nose. He activated his horn and picked up the unconscious Cancer. “Come along. We need to clear the field so it can be reset for the next match.”
With that, they were teleported out of the arena.