For a straight month, Glitch had trained himself in the worst conditions the world had to offer. He spent one week in the Ice Caps, then the next in the Sandopolis. He deprived himself of food and water for days, training hard and improving his physique and skills. When he was done, he knocked on Mina's front door. She answered about three minutes later, groggy and yawning. "Glitch...? Why are you.. it's 4 AM. Nobody's up right now." Glitch frowned. "Who you callin' nobody?" "Just say what you want so I can go back to bed." Glitch thought for a moment, tapping his foot. "I just wanted to say good luck at the Tourney." Mina's eyes widened. "Oh uh, I decided.. not to go..." 'Oh. Well, you'll get to watch me win then!" Mina yawned and started to close the door. "I'm... I'm sure I.. will.." The next day, Glitch stood in a line with about 50 other kids trying out. He had actually slept for a change, just so all his senses were in shape. That morning, he'd gone back to Mina's house for breakfast, and then her chauffeur had driven him to the "Doom Arena", as people called it. When it was finally Glitch's turn to sign up, a hand shot onto his shoulder and yanked him back. Glitch spun around and almost punched a red-furred jackal boy. His fist was so close, the boy was practically sniffing his knuckles. The jackal stammered. "H-hey, man. I was just trying to prevent you from falling into that puddle..." Glitch looked at the puddle. It was quite big. "Sorry for overreacting. I'll be going now. Good luck, I guess." With that, Glitch walked over to a staff member, signed his name, and walked further into the stadium. People cheered as more and more kids gathered. It took about an hour for all the children to be registered. Some shadow-boxed with the air, while others sat on their phone. Glitch made a note of who seemed weak and who seemed strong. He also made note of the people who were either staring at him with disgust or whispering to one another while stealing glances they thought he was too stupid to notice. The announcer tapped the mic, and shushed everyone. "Alright, alright! Welcome to the annual National Fight Tourney! I'm your host, Mike Meskin, and let me tell you, this never gets old. I got a daughter who loves this thing as much as I do, and she's here with me in the booth! Say hi!" Glitch's ears perked up as Mina's voice smoothly came through the speakers. "Hey, everyone! Mina here! My dad's totally right when he says I love watching these fights, though they do get violent from time to time. I wish I could participate this year, but something's been asked of me, and I just had to oblige! Well then, let's start with... Glitch vs Vex!" Glitch knew that Mina'd done that on purpose. It was probably to evaluate his strength, but why? Nonetheless, he hopped into the ring. Vex was a lizard. Glitch didn't really like reptiles. As soon as Announcer Meskin finished counting down, Vex rushed at Glitch. The latter was expecting Vex to be way faster than this. He simply drew his fist back and shot it forward into the lizard's sternum. Vex's pupils disappeared instantly as he flew into a barrier and dropped to the floor. He didn't get up. Glitch walked over and checked the guy's pulse. He was alive, to say the least. Vex's mother, on the other hand, wasn't as relieved. "I want that demon of a child removed this INSTANT! Look what he did to my baby boy!" The staff members were sweating bullets. Glitch frowned and walked over, placing Vex on a mat and flicking his head to wake him up. Vex's eyes shot open, and he instantly flipped onto his side, clutching his stomach. Glitch eyed Vex's mom. "If he's your 'baby boy', don't send him to a fight tournament. Y'know, when it's basically guaranteed he's gonna get hurt?" With that, Glitch sneered and walked off. Being on Mobius may have softened his heart, but it was still very much cold. It was silent in that stadium, only for a moment. As time went on, Glitch watched many fights. He soon realized that these kids hadn't gone through rigorous training that may or may not have been life-threatening at times, so they definitely weren't as battle hardened as he was. He also noted that majority of the fighters relied heavily on abilities rather than thinking through, which made it easy to predict their moves, even if Glitch wasn't the one fighting. It was soon down to the final four. Glitch was drinking water and stretching when he dunked with cola. He gritted his teeth and looked up. "Whaddya want, Mitch?" Mitch smirked. "Oh, I thought I'd let you know that we're going to be opponents in the round coming up, and don't even rely on Mina for help, cuz she don't give two dimes about your sorry hide." Glitch didn't respond.
@-Blizzey- for story and characters @MiracleJones for inspo bleh it's chocolatey I really slate huggards
