She ran over back to them, a wide smile on her face. When she got back to them, she was breathing pretty hard, but nothing too crazy.
"Ok guys, so far so good.", Coach said, "We'll stay here for a while, watch your competitors. Now, from tomorrow, you will all be slightly freer. You can kind of do your own thing, as long as you show up for all your battles. I have enough trust in you to let you do that. Show up on time and in good condition though, otherwise…", the threat was left suspended in the air, up for anyone to fill out of their own imagination.
The team nodded, they had expected as such, and had already agreed on a plan. Ace had also suggested something else, if any of them wanted help figuring out how to beat an opponent, they should all be available to help. All agreed.
They watched matches for about two more hours, there were a few people that stood out from the rest, but it was nothing they could not handle. After that, they went back home, each thinking over their own future matches. Tomorrow, Brom and Nai would fight, and the day after, Zach. For them, it was a bit different, they had gone to many tournaments, and met many other fighters their age, they had a much clearer idea of what the pool of fighters could look like, and so prepared for the encounters they thought they would potentially struggle in. They also had a lot of videos available, which gave many perspectives into how every competitor would fight against different styles.
It was a lot of work, but Ace had expected as such, it was much like chess, you did not simply train to 'fight', or train to play chess, once you got to a certain level, you trained in order to 'beat' a specific someone. You studied and analysed their strengths and weaknesses, and worked to exploit them, all the while knowing they were doing the same to you. It was a beautiful mind game, and Ace was getting hooked quite quickly.
Once they got back to the hotel, it was not late, but that did not stop them from eating early and going to bed, especially those who had fought today. Zach, Coach, Borm and Nai stayed awake until later, going over various opponents, but even they went to bed a lot earlier than usual, wanting to be in as good a position as possible, feeling refreshed and awake.
***
Morning jitters quickly disappeared after the stretches, and both Igor and Ace went out to fight almost instantly, due to the low number of people that were in their group at that point.
Both of their fights were harder, but they won them without any issues, although Igor did get hit in the face, it would not impede him in any way, since it was a punch on the cheek. He got the ice treatment, and that was that, it had worked on his leg's bruise, so it would work on this smaller one as well. At this point in their group, fighters were beginning to be recognised by the people in the stands, and it was Ace that was causing quite a bit of chatter. As of that moment, he had not actually been properly hit yet, and people were calling out wild speculation as to why that may have been.
Luckily, due to the way the tournament worked, the stands were too far to see his face, and no camera equipment was allowed, which meant he could not be recorded. The screens that displayed the fight also had a program to blur faces, which meant he had not been recognised for who he was.
He had gotten to a point in fame, that if he took a walk outside, he would most likely be recognised. He had progressed from playing just Rainbow, and was now playing a wild array of games, and smashing fellow players in every single one. His enhanced body was boosting his ability to learn and master games, and it had gotten to a point where his aim had become robotic. Not only that, but he had also built up enough game sense over the various games that he had played, that he was able to intuit things, simply from built up experience.
They waited for a while more, and Win and Noelle fought again. Noelle, was fighting one of the favourites in the tournament - in her category at least, and came out of it with a few scrapes and would be bruised, but nothing too bad. Win, however, utterly dominated his opponent, it was a 17-second crush. To be fair, it almost looked scripted, and Ace was not surprised if some thought the match had been fixed.
The opponent fell right into Win's trap, and he was placed into a deadly submission hold early on in the fight, with nothing he could do to fight back. The match was over in seconds, and more than a few people took note of it, even if it was relatively early on in the competition.
It took a slightly longer wait, but Nai went to fight next. She was a barrage of offensive strikes. Overwhelming her opponent, and within a minute, taking her down. It was a combination of kicks that did it, a combination that displayed great stamina and agility. Her opponent had no chance to show off her skills, but she was clearly skilled, since she had been able to avoid losing for so long. Ace had immense respect for her, it was not as easy to dodge Nai as you would think, she would not be fighting for the Institute if all there was to her was a barrage attacker - nor would she be so high up in the Fight Club ranking for that matter.
Her main skill was the fact that she could 'see' blind spots. She knew where to hit, to make it harder for her opponent to dodge, however, early on, a barrage of hits was the best way to hide it, even if her true style would unravel as the tournament progressed.
Next up, it was Brom, facing a giant of a man. He was even bigger than Igor, and seemed to be the younger brother of the biggest person in the tournament: Troy, a boy that fought in Zach's category. The two brothers had a similar fighting style, enjoying going pound for pound against their opponents. Of course, you had to be insane to do so, considering their size and the power they packed.
Brom, was probably the other person that could rival Rol's strength, but Ace knew he would not. For one, he was smaller, and for the other, that was not his fighting style.
Brom was… special. He had the most beautiful fighting style Ace had ever seen. His footwork was impeccable, scarily so, for a man of his size. And yet, regardless of that, he flowed. Brom's family was originally a fisherman family, originating from Cape Town, South Africa, one of the most famous windsurfing spots in the world.
They were part of one of the original warrior styles, and while they were built like giants, big and sturdy, their way of fighting was not suited to them - or so you would think. The clan lived off the sea, and so everyone fought, but everyone fished as well. They used their prowess in one, to boost their prowess in another. Their style was called the Wind and Water style, focusing on the two aspects, and the footwork that represented them. And believe it or not, their size fitted the style perfectly, they abused their size with the wind size, and their power with the water style, all the while accompanying it with their complementary footwork.
Brom and Rol faced each other, and bowed, they each got to their stance. Rol, who also had a background in wrestling, got into a wide stance, ready for the fight. Brom got into his first Water stance.
Rol shouted a warcry, and rushed Brom, intent on pummeling to the ground, a soft deflection along with the appropriate footwork was enough to repel the attack, and Brom began the Water dance. Rol roared like a beast, and went for another hit, this time a haymaker, that would devastate even Igor, Brom deflected most of the impact, whilst absorbing only what was necessary for him to spin and circle Rol again, taking little to no damage.
The fight continued like this, and from afar, Ace could see Troy, Rol's brother, shaking his head. Rol was surfing on the edge, and soon he would fall and drown. Soon, he would face the neverending abyss of the ocean. Soon, he would die, helpless amongst a sea of tears and despair.
***
"Good fight, beautiful as always.", Zach said, "Your style improved again?", he asked, but Brom shook his head, "He is just the best opponent for me, heavy, unyielding, unaware of the true power of the sea.", he said, his words giving a sense of impending doom.
Win laughed, "Well, now that you and Bettsy have finished, let's just chill and watch the rest of the fights.", he said smugly. He was feeling good about his win, it had been so clean that no one could point out a single mistake he had done. Of course, his opponent was naive, which was the only reason it worked, but nevertheless, it had been an impeccable execution, and he knew it.