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“Welcome back to day two of the Tournament of Wishes, how are we feeling folks?”
In the center of the ring stood Lester as the crowd roared with anticipation. Lester grinned, clearing his throat before he continued.
“The winners of today’s Semi-Finals will move on to the main event, the Grand Finals! Bringing them one step closer to getting their wish granted! Now enough from me, let’s get into our first match. Entering the ring, a new crowd favorite, give it up for Josie!”
Josie ran out towards the ring as the crowd erupted. Yesterday she was a nobody but now people cheered her name and some even held up signs. With a good night’s sleep under her belt, she bounced around the ring waving to the crowd. Peg watched in the waiting room, arms crossed and gripping them tight as she couldn’t shake her worry.
“And the challenger, a man who is no stranger to the tournament, give it up for The White Lightning himself, Lunagi!”
While Lunagi’s entrance was nowhere near as bubbly as Josie’s, he received huge applause all the same. Entering the ring, he stood across from her watching as she continued to laugh and bounce around.
Lester swooped in to stand between the two combatants, once again explaining the rules. Peg watched on the screen, attaching her ‘twig-ceiver’ as she called it to her ear. Her mind however could not stop repeating Lunagi’s words from the night prior.
I have one more question, and that question can’t be answered until our match tomorrow.
While Josie was well rested, ready to take on today’s match with fresh energy, Peg was mentally exhausted. She stayed up nearly most of the night, waiting for someone to bang at their hotel door after learning Josie is human. The moment never came which meant Lunagi was serious about needing to see Josie in the ring. Her thoughts then shifted to Lunagi’s last match and how effortlessly he took down Nyobi. Peg normally had all the faith in the world when it came to Josie but for once it began to falter.
“Peg? Earth to Peg?”
She was so deeply entrenched in her thoughts that she didn’t realize Josie was speaking to her. Peg quickly covered her mouth with her notebook, hiding from prying eyes.
“Sorry Jo, got a little distracted there.”
“Well pay attention!” Josie said, cracking her knuckles. “Cause I’m ready to beat this bunny to a pulp.”
“And three…two…one…fight!”
Lester leapt from the ring, fluttering away to a safe distance. A good call on his part as neither fighter had any plan to be on the defensive. Where Lester once stood, Josie and Lunagi clashed with their fists. The impact created a shockwave, powerful enough to blow a strong gust through the arena. Without any hesitation kicks and punches flew in every direction.
“These two are wasting no time here folks! Lunagi is not giving Josie any room to warm up as he throws everything and the kitchen sink at her!” Lester said. “But don’t count Josie out, she’s showing why she deserves to be here by dodging each attack and throwing her own right back.”
Peg’s eyes darted across the screen watching the performance between the two of them. Lester wasn’t just blowing smoke, the two seemed to be evenly matched. Peg bit her lip realizing that with a fight like this it may just come down to who can get any hits in first.
Lunagi stopped one of his punches short, causing Josie to hesitate before striking at his opening. When she tried, Lunagi quickly shifted to the side, slamming his furry white fist into her abdomen to send her tumbling across the ring.
“And there’s our first clean hit folks! Josie is certainly impressive but a fake out like that shows there’s levels to being on this stage.”
The crowd cheered as Josie gripped at her side, slowly standing to her feet. As she did, her fake ears twitched while Peg tried to pass on some advice.
“Don’t fall for his traps Jo. He’s trying to change the pace, stay on him!”
Josie didn’t respond, just shaking her head as her vision was still a tad blurry from the hit. When her eyes focused she watched Lunagi slowly approaching her. She steadied herself, bringing up her fists as her cloud tail curled. Lunagi continued walking towards her, not entering into an attacking stance.
“Who are you Josie?” Lunagi asked.
“Me?” Josie replied, taken off-guard with the question.
“Josie! He’s trying to get into your head!” Peg exclaimed, before regaining her composure.
“I’m the girl who’s gonna’ kick your ass and get that wish!” Josie spat back.
She bent her knees, letting the clouds form under her feet readying herself to launch at him. Lunagi sighed, shaking his head and raising his fists.
“As I feared, a disappointing answer. Goodbye.”
Lunagi leapt with his powerful legs, or at least tried to before falling flat on his face. Confused, he stood and tried moving again, this time he couldn’t move a step and his hands seemed to be stuck as well. As if chained down with tight invisible shackles.
The crowd, Lester and even Peg watching on the sidelines all seemed to be confused. The only person in the ring who seemed to not be confused was Josie herself.
“You’re not the only one faking people out Bunny Ears. Feelin’ a little stuck?” she said with a smirk.
“What the Hell is this?” Lunagi shouted, continuing to struggle.
Josie straightened her body up, posing with confidence with both hands on her hips. “You hit me hard but not that hard. Your silly question gave me more than enough time to set it up?”
“It?” Lunagi asked.
Josie continued to smile, raising a hand and snapping her fingers. The invisible shackles revealed themselves to be faint clouds, almost like wisps of steam. Four strands tightened themselves around each of his limbs.
“I don’t believe it folks!” Lester yelled into the microphone. “Josie took something from Nyobi’s playbook and trapped Lunagi. But this time she’s not letting his arms free! Could this be the winning strategy!?”
“Oohs” and “ahs” floated amongst the crowd as they watched Lunagi continue to struggle. The strange nature of the clouds allowed him to tug to a certain point but they would quickly snap him back into place.
“Tsk Tsk Tsk.” Josie said, wagging a finger. “Poor little bunny got caught in my trap and now I got full access to beat you up. But then, who says I gotta do it?”
Lunagi and Peg both raised their eyebrows, unsure of what Josie could mean. Josie gave Lunagi a devilish grin before raising her hands in his direction. She twisted them, like a puppeteer manipulating strings.
When she moved her hands Lunagi’s wrists moved like a living marionette. Josie clenched one of her fists and Lunagi’s own fist punched himself square in the face. He tried to loosen his hand but Josie’s cloud tightened to close it. With each punch the laughter from the crowd grew more and more until Josie herself doubled over, laughing herself.
Peg watched, finally feeling a moment of relief as Josie seemed to have the upper hand. That was until she took a closer look at Lunagi, noticing something peculiar. Lunagi was standing there, his arms waving, but something seemed off. She looked past the clouds and realized that Lunagi wasn’t standing there and instead it was something shaped like him.
The punching continued, with the crowd and Josie still laughing, but with each punch fluff and fur scattered around. Eventually there was nothing left to punch as in Lunagi’s place was just a pile of white fur.
“Josie!” Peg said into her earpiece. “Lunagi’s up to something, stay on guard!”
Peg’s warning cut through the laughter and Josie looked to see the same thing. Lester also noticed and flew to the side of the ring to inspect for himself.
“Folks, I’ve heard of being beaten to a pulp, but beaten into fluff is a new one!”
The crowd stopped their laughter as all eyes focused on the ring where Josie stood, a cross from a pile of white hair. Lester gave one last look at the hair before beginning his countdown. With each number ticked Peg clamped her hands together, hoping against hope that this truly was the end of the fight.
Halfway through the ten count there was a rumbling felt within the ring. The ground cracked beneath Josie, crumbling before she could react. Once she tried to move two white paws erupted below her, grabbing her ankles.
Josie felt the weight with these hands and knew this was no illusion or trick. Along with the hands came a body, Lunagi’s, who rose and slammed Josie hard into the ground and bounced her tiny body towards the edge of the ring.
“Look at that folks! For the first time it looks like the rabbit pulled themselves out of the hat, or should I say the ring?”
The crowd couldn’t believe it and yelled crazily. As Josie lay on the ground, Lunagi had now fully come back onto the ring, dusting off his fighting gi. Josie tried to tune out the crowd, hearing Peg yelling into her ear piece to stand up. Other than Peg’s voice she realized that Lester was already halfway through a ten count. She mustered all the strength she could, even using Kinto to help push up her body to stand on her feet.
Lunagi watched as Josie stood, tightening her fists and ready for the next onslaught of attacks. As she panted, regaining her composure Lunagi simply stood staring her down.
“I ask you again, who are you Josie?”
Josie was no longer in the mood for questions and decided to answer this time with her fists. Kinto spiraled beneath her feet and she rocketed towards Lunagi.
He easily dodged each of Josie’s sloppy attacks. Peg told her repeatedly to calm down and not attack wildly. As she watched the screen she could tell Josie was now deeply frustrated. Sure, Josie had been annoyed in fights before but she usually wasn’t one to show it. This time however she was swinging wildly with no rhyme or reason.
“You bore me, Josie.” Lunagi sighed, slamming his fist hard into Josie’s stomach. She gasped, tumbling towards the edge of the ring once again.
Josie was down but she wasn’t writhing in agony, instead she lay motionless. Peg yelled for Josie to get up but there was no response. Lunagi turned to Lester, who began his count down once again. He reached the count of four before stopping, staring past Lunagi. The moment Lunagi turned, a figure was upon him and before he could respond he was punched hard in the face. So hard that he was nearly sent flying out of the ring.
The crowd gasped as Lunagi gripped the edge of the ring, pulling himself back up from a ring out. He shook his head but realized his vision wasn’t playing tricks on him.Josie was still laying on the ground, but hovering above her was a copy. A replica made from her clouds. While Lunagi tried to recover, the real Josie stood up, wiping away trickling blood from her smiling mouth.
“Sorry Long ears,” Josie said. “You’re not the only one who can make copies.”
The crowd cheered and Lester continued to boost the fighters egos, lamenting about how an exciting back and forth this has become. Lunagi didn’t listen to a word of this and instead heard the familiar voice of an older man repeat in his mind.
When the Emissary of the Night returns, they will make short work of what took you a lifetime to learn.
Lunagi rose to his feet, entering a fighting stance as he couldn’t help but let a smile creep across his fuzzy white face.
Josie, Let’s see if you’re the person I’ve spent my life waiting for.
To Be Continued…