The moment the fight started, Arva vanished and left a cloud of electricity in the place where she once stood. Itzel turned around and placed both of her hands in front of her upper body. Her opponent attacked with a Flurry Rush. Itzel's arms moved in synchrony with each of Arva's electric jabs, cutting the attacks short. The barrage ended without a single attack hitting Itzel.
"That was smart of her," Enidri commented. "She knew that tossing out a Serrated Gale would have left her vulnerable to getting hit by that Special Technique. Instead, she waited and played defensively."
"But now Arva has all of her EV bars full!" Janus said while pointing at the audience's screen. "That puts her at a huge advantage now that she can use her Signature Technique, right?"
"Of course it does," Enidri replied. "But have a bit of confidence in your teammate! She's spent more than her fair share of time doing Ranked Challenges. She knows how to fight smart."
Arva vanished again. Itzel spun around, keeping her guard up. Her opponent didn't appear behind her this time, instead reappearing to her right. Itzel didn't adjust her body fast enough to protect herself from the sideways kick from her opponent that hit her side. She went skidding back, in between the two disjointed clouds of electricity that were left in Arva's wake when she teleported.
"Levin Current!" Arva exclaimed as she stuck her hands out. The two clouds shot out a bolt of lightning that merged onto Itzel. Crackling electricity rang out through room. Itzel became paralyzed, wincing as her body conducted the volts from the attack. Her eyes opened just enough to watch her opponent get into position to follow up as she remained immobile. Arva’s right hand glowed a brilliant blue. Reaching forward, she placed her hand on Itzel's forehead.
"Transistor..." Arva channeled electricity stemming from the opposite ends of her Levin Current into her hand. Itzel remained helpless as her opponent kept her still with the paralytic effect of her Signature Technique.
"Touch!" The two clouds vanished. As they did, the entirety of Arva's arm lit up like lightning. With her hand still holding onto Itzel's forehead, she sent the electric energy stored in her arm through her fingers and into Itzel's body. Her limbs twitched and shook as her muscles and limbs spasmed from the sudden rush of lightning. Sparks and static jumped from her arms and legs as Arva continued to unleash her Signature Technique. While the Challenge Display showed that Arva's EV bars had been depleted, her hand that held onto Itzel returned to its normal color. She released her opponent, letting Itzel fall backwards onto the floor.
Janus stared at Itzel's Stamina Gauge with his eyes agape. The combo that Arva had just unleashed was enough to reduce Itzel's bar to sixty percent.
"That was courtesy of you, Janus," Enidri said.
"The match has barely started and Itzel's already at a massive deficit!" Janus replied.
"Maybe I was wrong about what I said earlier," Enidri stated with a raised eyebrow.
"Nah," Gurk muttered. Both Janus and Enidri turned to look at the crocodile. He leaned forwards on his crate, his eyes focused intently on the fight. "She's good."
"You've got a weird definition of good." Enidri responded. "It's going to take some impeccable defense and offense just for Itzel to catch up."
"Trust her."
Janus and Enidri silently returned to the match. Itzel had just gotten up. She wagged her head from side to side, shaking off the last bit of shock that remained in her body. Undeterred by her Stamina deficit, the woman returned to her fighting stance. Arva vanished again, leaving another electric cloud in front of Itzel. This time, however, Itzel remained facing forward. She lowered herself into a crouch.
"Vertical Zephyr!"
Itzel shot up vertically, rising with her feet first. She spun like a drill as a vicious tornado circled. Arva was caught by the rushing wind of the attack and travelled upwards along with Itzel. Once the tornado dissipated at the peak of the attack, Itzel gracefully turned herself upright while Arva was launched sideways and sent back to the ground stomach-first.
"See?" Gurk exclaimed.
"She's still got a lot of catching up to do," Janus replied.
"She's fine."
With her opponent down, Itzel sent a Serrated Gale flying in Arva's direction. She rolled out of the way, making the attack hit the ground and burst with a gust of wind that scattered in all directions. Arva's hair flowed to the side from the breeze created by the Technique's collision. The moment she stood upright, Arva vanished once more.
"Not this time!" Itzel said loud enough for it to be picked up by the Broadcast. She reached behind her, timing her positioning just right so that Arva reappeared in her hands. Itzel held onto Arva's right arm with both hands. She gave a quick tug of the arm downwards, sending Arva towards the ground shoulder first as her legs flipped upwards. Arva landed on the mat with a splat as Itzel kept her arm in judo-like grip.
"What a read!" Enidri said with awe. "She knew exactly where Arva was going to be and what attack she was going to throw out when she reappeared!"
"Told you," Gurk replied with a chuckle.
The Challenge Display showed that Arva had lost a fifth of her Stamina. Janus' eyes darted back to the fight. Arva managed to free herself from Itzel's arm hold. She returned to her standard fighting stance and locked eyes with Itzel again.
"Serrated Gale!" Itzel launched the Enhanced Variant of the projectile. Arva blocked the attack, but the knockback from the attack was enough to make her wobble. With her balance off, Itzel followed up with an Advancing Tempest. Itzel stormed her opponent with a running shoulder tackle accompanied with a rush of vicious winds. Arva took the full brunt of the impact and was pushed forward along the full length of Itzel's Special Technique.
The attack ended with a burst of air, blasting Arva off the mat. The red wall that encompassed the perimeter of the designated fighting area turned bright red once Arva's entire body passed through. With her back on the tile floor, Arva looked up and at the large Challenge Display. The words "Ring Out" covered up the majority of the screen's space. She took one hand and adjusted her sock cap so that it was aligned properly before letting out a huff of disappointment.
With the match having drawn to a close, the crowd let a long groan of disappointment. Itzel paid the reaction no mind as she returned to her seat by the rest of her team. She sat down crisscross on the floor. Itzel's body jumped up as a bolt of electricity shot out from her back.
"You... alright Itzel?" Janus said with hesitation. He reached down to put one hand on her shoulder only to have a spark jump from Itzel’s skin and into his finger. He darted his hand back after getting zapped.
"I had to improvise," she said weakly. "Arva's too fast for me to try and catch up with. There's no way I was going to be able to chip away enough damage in time to overcome her lead."
"A win's a win!" Enidri said. "That's all that matters in the end."
"But I had to use up every bit of EV I had to get it," Itzel replied. "I really wanted to land some good hits on Siergi, but with how much Stamina I have combined with the fact that I'm going in without access to any of my more powerful Techniques, I don't think it's looking too good."
"I'll win,' Gurk said.
"You better, big guy. We've gotten this far. Hate to see you lose after all the training and studying you've been through."
Gurk readied himself for a response but remained silent as everyone turned to Arva as she came rushing in their direction. She stopped in front of Itzel, extending one hand out for a shake.
"Good fight, Itzel!" she said, smiling as wide as ever.
Itzel accepted the offer. She stood on her feet, still shaking Arva's hand. "Thanks. That was a great combo that you landed in the beginning."
"I don't get too many opportunities to utilize it," Arva replied. "But after all that EV I built up from the match I had with Janus, I just had to take advantage of it."
Itzel's eyes turned to the side just enough to meet with Janus'. "So what you're saying is that you couldn't have done it without him, huh?"
"In a roundabout way, yeah! Oh, and don't mind the audience's reaction. They're very picky when it comes to matches. You can't believe how many disgruntled comments we receive whenever Siergi wins by Ring Out. They think it's 'cheap.'" Arva made a pair of air quotations with her fingers while saying the last word.
"Hmph. Casuals," Itzel said smugly.
"But are you about ready for round four? Siergi has been itching to get on the Broadcast ever since we started!"
Itzel cocked her head to the side. Looking past Arva, she could see Siergi shadowboxing. Everyone in the audience was focused on him moving about and practicing his moves as he slowly made his way towards the center of the mat. "I'm sure he is," Itzel said. "I'm sure he is."
