NOVEL NEXT Episode LXX: Who Are the Real Alphas?
The Alpha Wolves, a team of seasoned warriors, navigated the labyrinthine venue to scrutinize the bracket that held the fate of their next battle. “I can’t fathom why we've been assigned the first match in this round of thirty-two fighters,” grumbled Igor, his voice echoing with frustration. Thach, however, wore a smirk of confidence. “Don’t fret it; we’ll make quick work of these guys.”
“You’re not even sure who we are up against,” Xavier interjected. Igor dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “It doesn’t matter who our opponents are; they will crumble under our might.” Lyric then chimed in nervously, “Boss…our opponent has pilfered our team’s name.” Igor’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What's the name?” he asked.
Lyric swallowed hard before answering, "They're calling themselves The Alpha Reserve." Igor scoffed at this revelation. "Alpha Reserve? What kind of pathetic joke is that?" Thach chuckled and agreed, "Exactly what I was thinking." Igor clenched his fist tightly as he declared their superiority over any other 'Alphas' on this island.
His gaze fell on his clenched hand as anger bubbled within him. He vowed to teach Felix and his team a lesson for crossing paths with the Alpha Wolves thrice now - each time leaving scars behind. Xavier added fuel to the fire by reminding Igor about Felix stealing his girlfriend once upon a time.
“Xavier! Shut your mouth before I ensure you don't even step foot in the ring!” Igor roared back at him causing Xavier to bow apologetically towards him.
Meanwhile, Kiyoshi was busy scanning through the board that displayed their next opponents - Team X-J-8. He noticed they weren't scheduled until later in the day and sprinted towards the venue café to share the news with his team. “We have some time to analyze the other matches before ours,” Jax noted.
Felix, however, had different plans. He downed his mint tea and announced he'd be spending his time with Scarlet watching a different match. With Felix gone, Kiyoshi, Jax, and the remaining members planned on scouting other teams while taking a break.
Elsewhere, Ogaki's voice echoed in disbelief when he found out about another team with 'Alpha' in their name. Rai reminded him of Sensei Yuriko’s words: they had to defeat any team that crossed their path for the ultimate prize. Ogaki agreed albeit reluctantly.
Ogaki was an intimidating figure - towering above most fighters with his stocky torso and toned legs. His fiery red hair curled around his shoulders making him look like a flame personified. He wore a blue gi adorned with a yellow four-starred belt and an image of Gozu with two unicorn horns emblazoned on its back.
Rai sported a contrasting look - her triangular face framed by rose-pink hair that fell to her elbows in soft curls. She wore minimal makeup that accentuated her purple eyes and small lips perfectly. Her black gi bore a silver four-starred belt and an emblem of Pegasus with a black crystal fire tail.
Yuho was another character with her narrow face, round orange eyes, and thin purple eyebrows. Her hip-length purple hair contrasted beautifully against her red gi that bore a raven logo with wolf-shaped eyes on its back.
Jun stood out from the rest - his wide face framed by azure-rooted blonde hair slicked back neatly to reveal grey eyes under thick eyebrows. His forest green gi bore a tiger-headed griffin logo on its back along with a black four-starred belt wrapped around his waist.
As Jun left the room asking about their match schedule, Ogaki replied, "We need to be on the platform in fifteen minutes."
Jun remained silent, vanishing after he left the room. "Where is he going?" Rai inquired. Ogaki simply smirked, responding, "Actually, I have no idea." He then added, "Let's get moving; we need to reach the platform."
Meanwhile, Jun was scoping out the venue for any signs of the Alpha Wolves' other team. Spotting them wandering around the venue and observing different platforms and teams, Jun sensed all four of their auras. "Their auras don't seem particularly powerful," Jun commented to Skeiron.
"They appear fragile; I can't wait to get my hands on one of them," Skeiron replied eagerly.
Closing his eyes, Jun read their specialties and predicted their fighting movements ahead of time. "Only one of them possesses a Champion move," Jun noted.
"A master move... but they're weak," Skeiron responded dismissively.
"That man might put up a good fight even though his aura doesn't indicate that he has mastered it yet," said Jun.
"It seems like he only knows it for knowledge's sake," Skeiron remarked dryly.
"Let's rejoin the others," suggested Jun before disappearing in an instant. He reappeared behind his team and relayed his findings. "This fight should be easy for us," said Jun confidently.
"As expected," Ogaki agreed nonchalantly. "Their best fighter isn't even that good. He may have a master move but he hasn’t mastered it yet."
"I thought this was going to be an exciting match," Yuho lamented.
"Not this round," said Jun as the Alpha Wolves arrived at the platform first.
"Where are these so-called skilled fighters?" Thach taunted arrogantly.
"They have five minutes to show up or they'll be disqualified." The wind lightly brushed against everyone on the platform when suddenly a group of four fighters appeared walking towards them.
"At last, they've shown up for their defeat," Lyric gloated, clenching his fists together.
"You guys must be The Alpha Reserve," the Referee stated.
"That's correct," Ogaki confirmed.
"So, you're the other Alphas?" Lyric asked with a scowl.
"Yes, and?" Ogaki retorted nonchalantly.
"That's our name," Lyric growled defensively. Ogaki simply smirked in response.
"The conditions of the match will be as follows," said the Referee as he spun the wheel which landed on 'two versus two'. "The match will consist of pairs."
"I'll teach these guys not to mess with the real Alphas," Lyric declared boldly.
"I'll partner with Lyric," Xavier volunteered while Rai announced that he would team up with Yuho.
"Understood," Ogaki acknowledged. Xavier and Lyric jumped up at the same time as Rai and Yuho did. They all bowed to each other indicating the start of the match.
Xavier immediately attempted a thunder kick at Rai after bouncing off Lyric’s shoulder but she dodged it and tripped him instead causing him to fall face-first into hard sand. Then Yuho delivered a swift kick to Xavier's head causing him to fall back towards Lyric who moved out of his way allowing him to tumble out of bounds.
Lyric’s eyes widened in surprise while Igor and Thach looked equally shocked.
"Xavier is out of bounds; he is therefore eliminated from this match,” declared the Referee.
"How... how did this happen?" Xavier stammered in disbelief before accusingly asking Lyric, "Why didn't you catch me?"
"I don’t save weaklings like you,” retorted Lyric dismissively which enraged Xavier further. As soon as Lyric turned around, he was met with two punches headed straight for his face.
"Dark Crystal punch!" Rai shouted.
"Wolf beak strike!" Yuho echoed. Their punches connected and the impact immediately sent Lyric flying out of the ring where he collapsed unconscious.
Igor smacked his forehead in frustration. "Why can't you idiots do anything right?" he demanded.
"Two points go to The Alpha Reserve," announced the Referee.
"I was expecting a better opponent than this," Yuho commented dryly.
"Yeah, that fight was too easy; I didn’t even break a sweat," Rai agreed as they both jumped down from the platform.
"You guys could have defeated them in two seconds," Ogaki pointed out amusedly.
"We kind of wanted a challenge," Yuho admitted sheepishly. Then Ogaki and Jun jumped up onto the platform followed by Igor and Thach. Ogaki burst into laughter causing Igor to ask irritably, "What's so funny?"
"You guys are fragile compared to us," Ogaki taunted confidently.
"We'll see about that," Igor retorted defiantly. They all bowed before Thach lunged at them only to miss his punch and get knocked off balance by Ogaki's swift leg sweep which was immediately followed by Jun's chaos rampage sending him six feet underground where he fainted.
Igor seethed with rage at this development. "Just like that, it's two against one,” Ogaki noted gleefully.
"It seems like you're the only member left on your team capable of advancing further,” Jun added with a chuckle but Igor remained silent.
"Tasbul, what are our chances of coming out of this in one piece?" Igor asked desperately.
"Umm, twenty percent," Tasbul replied quickly.
"What about in spirit guardian mode?" Igor probed further hoping for better odds but Tasbul's response remained unchanged: "Still twenty percent."
"Are you going to make a move or just stand there?" Ogaki asked impatiently.
"Don’t rush me," Igor shot back angrily before lunging at Ogaki.
"Bad move," Ogaki warned smugly.
"Heh, I wasn't aiming for you," Igor retorted as he leapt over Ogaki's head to land a punch on Jun’s gut.
"Huh?" Jun muttered in surprise as the unexpected blow winded him.
"Now you were focusing on me," said Ogaki appearing next to Igor.
With a swift kick to the gut, Ogaki forced sobs from Igor's mouth. Spinning with a 180-degree rotation, Ogaki sent Igor crashing to the ground with his other foot. "He actually landed a punch on me," Jun exclaimed, shock written all over his face. Hesitant, Jun sprinted towards Igor's prone body and attempted to stomp him. But Igor rolled away in time.
"Get back here!" Jun called out as he continued his stomping assault. However, Igor halted under Jun’s shadow just before the kick connected.
"Hold on, Jun!" Ogaki shouted in warning.
"What is it?" Jun yelled back at Ogaki as a brown aura emanated from Igor.
"I am Tasbul the Wood Wolf!" Igor declared loudly before rolling away and springing up quickly.
"So that's how we're playing this," said Jun as a dark green aura enveloped him. "I am Skeiron, the Chaos Tiger-headed Griffin!"
But before he could complete his transformation, Ogaki kicked him out of the ring amidst confusion from the spectators. Crashing outside of the ring, an irate Jun yelled, "What was that for? I was about to win this match!"
"No, you weren't," retorted Ogaki calmly. "I stopped you because you were going to exhaust all your energy on one fighter."
Jun wore an expression of disbelief as he processed Ogaki's words.
"You can thank me later when we get further into the tournament," added Ogaki nonchalantly.
"That isn't fair; he always gets all of the glory," muttered Jun bitterly while wearing an upset look.
Charging at Ogaki with a wood splinter fist was Igor but Ogaki easily anticipated his punch and countered with a powerful jab to his jaw which dragged Igor's face along the ground leaving visible bruises. Slowly getting up from Ogaki’s hit, Igor declared determinedly, “I must win this for Scarlet’s love. Champion Move: Pine Howl Strike of Destiny!"
A brown glow enveloped Igor's hand as he slashed at the air, sending the slashes towards Ogaki who nimbly dodged his champion move.
"Your specials are too predictable and easy to read; you're finished," Ogaki yelled back defiantly. A blue glow emanated from Ogaki's hand as he jabbed it into Igor's gut causing his eyes to turn white and forcing him out of his spirit guardian mode. Igor was propelled out of the platform and collapsed in front of his injured team.
The referee wore a shocked expression as he announced, "Igor Heroux has fainted, so The Alpha Reserve is moving to the Round of sixteen."
"What an easy match; it seems we are the only alpha contenders," Ogaki commented with a laugh as he returned to his team and exited the area.