The Fighter's Tournament

Recognizing the attack Screech was preparing, Evil Clash moves out of the way, but while the Kane side wanted to go for the punish, the Clash side wanted to take care of Darken...
It could be a problem later.

"Oi, Screech! As much as I'd like to finish you off, I think we have a bigger issue!" Evil Clash then points over to Darken, and then speeds after him, going for a lunging punch.

The relatively small red bird quickly avoided the beast's monolith foot as it belted through the air, swiping at nothing and coming back down to the ground with a bam. The large wolf was powerful, to be sure, and while that power didn't inhibit speed, it was clearly not a careful or calculated creature. Not calculated in the sense that it didn't have any contingency in mind should one of it's targets avoid an attack. 

The kick had caused the wolf to spin with the foot's trajectory, and it had to shuffle a little to come around to face the phoenix again. Dark red spittle drooled down from its open jaw as its heaving lungs drew heavy breaths. The creature was far from panting out of exhaustion, or shortness of breath, but rather instead like any canine might when excited. 

The lycanite had been making no hesitation to go in for another attack, his only delay being the requirement to turn and face the enemy; but during that short span, the red avian had built up a fiery breath. The wolf's thick, matted fur was prime fuel for a fire. 

Darken lunged, a heavy clawed paw shooting out forward in an attempt to grab onto the phoenix's lower body or legs - whichever it may find purchase on, if any - and a maw wide open to attach itself to whatever upper, and vital, body part it could. That was when the avian released a torrent of flames into the wolf's face. Immediately the primed source of flammable materiel ignited, dousing the creature's head, chest, and shoulders in fire. 

Burning to death has, and always will be, perhaps the most painful common death openly available to man and mobian. Most people burning at the stake would last 30 seconds before unconsciousness would overcome them, fatal damage occurring at a minute and a half, but it was almost always a painful, one way road to the final destination.

The intense pain and adrenaline shooting through the monster could have done nothing to stop the creature's already determined trajectory as it had thrown itself towards the bird, and instead it was simply engulfed in fire; the flames served as a much more extravagant smokescreen between himself and the phoenix.

This was... Utterly terrifying. 
Her flames didn't seem to work, he was still coming.

Now, she was pretty dexterous, especially for a girl her shape, but in the current situation, and especially just coming off the heels of using a special attack, with all the noise around her, and this hulking, raging beast in front of her covered in flames and ready to end her life, saying she wasn't ready would be the understatement of a millenia.

Darken latches onto her, his claws digging into the meat of her thighs as his fangs come close to her chest, ready for the kill.
If the beast looked into her eyes, they might see a tint of purple in her steaming, pain and fear-filled eyes - memories of an Elder God buried within threatening to come back as she thought she was going to die...
And then she screams.
At the top of her lungs, so loud and panic-filled that it echoes off the roof.

"PYROBOOM!"

Ears might pop or worse as from her core, a hot energy burst forth in the form of an inferno, extending outward from her in a spherical shape. It was an explosion of fire, and its flames reached out to close 9 times her height, licking the bars behind her but just out of range of Screech.
And after it was all over and done with, Pyra would pant in exhaustion and wheeze in pain... She was barely holding onto concioussness as is. Would this be enough to stop the beast?

It would seem that the pressure was too much for our dear Werebeast, and thus: She meets a similar fate to the masked Axolotl.

(Adablur has taken themselves out of the rp)

Screech halted their attack and turned to see Darken attacking Pyra and Clash rushing over to help. She was about to go in for an attack on the hulked out fox, but then Pyra shouted as the eruption of flames blasted through the arena.

"WOAH!" Screech shouted as she jumped backwards to get as far away from the flames as she could. The immense heat and smokey smell gave Screech some harsh memories, her body tensing up from the flashbacks.

"M-Mother? Please, no!"

The memories of her past felt so vivid that Screech's radar sense started going haywire. Normally the ringing noise she hears is something to get her attention. This time however, it was much louder, causing Screech to hold both her hands to her head. She closed her eyes and groaned in pain, both physically, and mentally.

Well shit, this was certainly a predicament, Pyra was about to get eaten, and it seemed that the hulk-wolf was about to eat the napalm grenade of a lifetime.
He could just move out of the way and pick off all the tired opponents one-by-one, but that wasn't right.

Evil Clash, hearing "PYROBOOM", jumps between the two, and cranked up his heat generation as high as he could, hoping to deflect the firey explosion.

"Damn it, Pyra! YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!"

It wouldn't be enough to where Darken would be unharmed, but at least he'd keep his limbs, speaking of, Evil Clash's were on fire.

He groans as he continues to try and deflect the flames, he couldn't do much for the force except hope he could stand his ground.

After it'd pass, he'd mostly be running on adrenaline, with burnt arms, filled with built-up energy. He needed a moment to breathe before he did anything else.

The Lycanite wolf felt its claws make purchase on the phoenix's leg, clawing into her flesh, fire raging against his own. But in a flurry of movement, one of the other of the beast's prey leapt between the two, cutting the larger animal off from being able to finish the avian off. 

There a loud BAM as the force of a small explosion and no small amount of fire erupted from the congress of the 3 mobians, originating from the now wounded Phoenix. She was saved from the beast's attack, but the smaller hedgehog could not say the same. 

Darken's fangs latched onto whatever part of the hedgehog was now in his way, and while the sheer surprise of the fiery detonation would otherwise have cause the beast to open its maw, it instead clenched only tighter in an attempt to bite back the pain of its body being engulfed in yet another wave of flames. It flung its body back away from the epicenter of the explosion, jaw locked shut as it tried ferociously to put itself out.

She... She was let go...
Thank Cha- oh Chaos damn it, now Clash is in danger!

Pyra groans, barely holding on to concioussness as her body ached and pained, but she wanted to try and make sure Clash was okay.
She looks over to Screech, who seemed to be having an anxiety attack.
Her beaks curls into a grimace, as if gritting the teeth she, as a bird, didn't have, before squinching her eyes and screaming out loud. "P- please, Screech, help save Clash!"

Then with what little energy she had left, she rushes at Darken and attempts another drop kick, her shoes covered in fire as she does. Whether it lands or not, she would pass out shortly after...

Screech was curled up and sitting on the stadium floor, her knees to her chest and her tail curled up in front around her legs. She was still having the memories of her past, but then she heard her name, which snapped her mostly back to reality.

'What?! Now Clash is in trouble?!' the orca thought as she saw her friend locked in the jaws of the gray beast. 'Okay, okay! C'mon Quin, snap out of it!'

Screech stood up and closed her eyes. Her radar sense' ringing calming down a bit. She attempted to summon her spear, but to no avail. She was still stressed out from her anxiety attack.

"Guess I'm gonna have to think of something else." Screech then got an idea. 'it might not work, but I don't have time to think about that right now!'

Screech then shouted, "CLASH, PYRA! IF YOU CAN, COVER YOUR EARS!" she then took a big breath of air before sending a sonic scream towards Darken, hopefully taking the hulked out fox's attention off of the others.

Evil Clash managed to keep himself awake, that's nice, but why was everyone screaming?

And why was there a giant maw firmly attached to his lower back?

"AAAAAAAAAAA-"
He screams in pain before using Chaos Control, warping himself out to Pyra's right, but certainly not unscathed.

"S-shit... I gotta tap out, this is not good!"

With that, Evil Clash would put the bracelets back on, turning back into normal Clash, just in time for Screech's warning.

"Huh?! What was-"
To put it simply, he did not cover his ears.

The lycan had thrown his head back with the extra added weight of Clash in his jaws, making his head much heavier, but as he chaos controlled out mid-flight, the large beast had added momentum exerted on his now smaller mass, causing the creature to throw itself into the floor of the fighting ring. 

It continued to thrash about violently, limbs flailing and teeth gnashing as it tried to put out the fire that had engulfed its entirety. Then, as the creature is able to claw a swathe of burning fur off of its head, the wounded Phoenix collides with the creatures chest, throwing it into the side of the fighting cage, CLANG, winded. The creature gasps for air as both an attempt to fight through the pain of the still raging fire covering most of its body, and to bring air back into its lungs from the final, and immense force of the red avian's attack.

If the phoenix was hoping to put herself out of danger, leaping towards the aggravated monster was not the best course of action, while she had managed to land a blow, she had put herself closer to the threat, regardless of how disabled it now was.

An immense, crackling, gasp for air howled from the creatures lips as it tried to raise itself to its feet, followed by another when it lurched forward into a crumpled kneel. No longer was its back pressed against the bars. It gasped again, reaching an arm forward to crawl towards Pyra. 

That was when it's already ringing ears were deafened immediately, blood dripped from the burnt creatures face and body where skin had burnt but not fully cauterized. As the shockwave of the Orca's sonic screech hit Darken, it once again took the wind out of his already struggling lungs. The lycan crumpled back into itself once more, just as it had against the metal bars only moments ago. The beast was motionless, asphyxiated to the point of unconsciousness. With it's body in the shape it was, who could truly tell if those few moments of consciousness prior were its last?

Screech hadn't noticed that Clash escaped Darken on his own cause she closed her eyes when she used her attack. She wasn't actually trying to hurt Darken, just get him to let go of Clash. So when she opened her eyes to see that Clash had teleported away, she quickly stopped screaming.

"Oh Chaos..." She said as she stared at the large beast that was laying on the floor of the stadium. She then went to check on her friends.

"Clash, are you okay? Pyra, how about you?" When she didn't hear Pyra's response, she looked around to see that the phoenix was unconscious too.

"Oh Chaos, PYRA!" She shouted as she rushed over to Pyra's side.

"No, no, no, no, no, why did I even sign up for this?! Pyra, wake up!" Screech was starting to panic again, her ears ringing slightly from all this stress.

This was very bad... The wolf might be dead, Pyra was knocked out, Screech is freaking out, he couldn't hear shit, his ass REALLY hurts, this was just NOT a good time.

He was gonna have to talk to his manager later... For now? He's going to focus his spirit energy into his fist...

Meanwhile, in the announcer's booth.

"So... Should we do something about Darken?"

"Give him a few seconds, you know how it is, someone pulls something out of their ass."

"I guess that's true, but what about the kids? Don't seem like they're much for fighting anymore."

"Well, the hedgehog looks like he's doin' something, let's see what happens."

The grey heap of burnt fur and charred skin lay motionless on the floor, the beast not moving at all while the rest of the contestants began to panic, checking on each other and themselves for their wounds and battle scars.

After a solid amount of time had passed, and the creature had yet to move, even yet to breath, it's form began to shift once more. It was not stirring this time, but rather changing shape, as it had minutes before when the first unfortunate blow had landed on the small grey fox. The lycan's body shivered on the floor of the arena as it tried to reshape itself under the immense damage it had sustained. The fur writhed under the pressure of compressing what wounds it needed to. The comatose creature shrunk. And after a few seconds had passed, all that remained was the burnt form of a now naked grey fox.

Screech was still freaking out a bit, but then she thought to herself, 'I have to relax. Nothing good ever comes from a freak out.'

Screech took a deep breath, then slowly let it back out. She turned to Clash and asked,

"Can your powers do anything to help?"

Clash says nothing as his right hand up to his elbow now glows a light purple, balled up into a fist.

And with a grim look on his face, he attempts to strike Screech with the Soul Punch.


Meanwhile, the tournament holders see Darken revert, and eject him out of the tournament, this time through a descending platform.
He would be taken to an intensive care unit, so that he won't just become fresh arenakill.


DARKEN K.O

Last she saw, Darken had Clash in his mouth, and as her concioussness faded she heard what she only understood as a high-pitched ringing...

You are strong, child, but I am beyond strength. I am the end, and I have come for you, Pyra.

Her pained eyes slowly open, soreness running up and down her body as bright lights from above irritate her eyes further. She groans, struggling to pick herself up as she takes in her surroundings.
She's still in the Tournament - she witnesses Darken being taken away by a spot in the floor lowering.
And out of the corner of her eye, she sees Clash throw a grape-flavoured punch at Screech, who was struggling to calm down.
"Cl- Clash... What're you d- doin'...?" Through her pained, weak voice was a notable frustration and confusion. How could he keep fighting...? What was he trying to do?

What did she miss...?

Screech thought Clash was charging up energy to help Pyra, but then her radar sense was tripped. She quickly tried to react, but her ears were already ringing a bit from stress so it took longer to notice the "danger" ringing. She tried to use her large tail to sweep the punch as she dove away, but since she wasn't expecting the punch her roll was a bit off, her face smacking into the stadium floor. She got up and looked over at Clash.

"Guess you still want to do this? Fine." Screech tried her best to focus, and succesfully summoned her spear. She gave it a bit of a twirl, before taking a more defensive pose.

Oh, she dodged, that was inconvenient, he managed to retain the energy, but this was going to be close.

As the tail was being swept towards him, Clash manages to touch it with the soul-infused hand, injecting his soul into her, and rendering both immobile for a few seconds.

Meanwhile, inside of Screech's soul, Clash could feel that it was a spirit of great determination, but there was also a bit of lingering trauma, must have been triggered recently.

"Sorry Screech, I'm getting us out of here!"

With the little time he had in there, Clash sent a heavy shock through Screech's soul, being ejected soon after.

Though, it wasn't very seamless, their bodies weren't touching anymore, so he couldn't go back the same way.
Clash's soul manifested as a purple will-o-wisp, gently floating between their bodies. Screech could move again, but Clash's body could not...

Pyra watched as Screech dodged out of the way and get ready for more fighting, only for Clash to do... something?
She wasn't quite sure. All she knew is that it didn't seem to do much to Screech, at least not yet, but it left Clash completely paralyzed.
Pyra shook her head. She just... She wanted to know what he was doing!
Her entire body was sore and aching from earlier, especially her legs, where Darken had dug in. She couldn't fight back even if she wanted to.

"C- Clash...?"

Screech's radar sense was going berserk, but Screech remained motionless due to Clash's attack.

'Why can't I move? This feels... Weird.' Screech then heard Clash's voice in her head.

'Clash? What the heck did you-'

Screech then felt the shock as Clash's soul exited her body. She screamed in pain as she dropped to one knee, holding a hand to her chest. She supported herself on her spear, before it suddenly disappeared due to the immense pain in her chest distracting her from focusing on her spear. She fell onto her side, then tried to hold herself up, panting heavily.

"Don't... Don't give... Up. Keep... Keep fighting..." Screech said to herself, trying to get back up. She didn't want to lose the fight, but the pain she was feeling was too much, and she was so tired. After struggling to get back up for several seconds, Screech finally dropped to the floor on her chest, now unconscious.

SCREECH K.O


Carter appeared and grabbed the will-o-wisp out of the air, clearly distressed.

"Too close!"

After pulling it back inside of Clash, he springs back to life, much like waking from a nightmare.

*GASP* "WAY too close!"

Clash took a few rapid deep breaths, before looking towards Pyra, who seemed very confused.

In a rapid and adrenaline-fueled thought process, Clash decided to warp and strike Pyra from behind.
This had to end, now.

Afterwards, Clash felt pain from deep within. He was definitely overexerting himself, and likely to pass out soon.

She was about to shout out to him one last time, begging for and demanding answers, when he suddenly warped behind her, striking from behind. She gasped out in surprise and pain, and let out a short string of swears through sharp breaths.

She was just about to look behind at him, when she finally collapsed right there...

PYRA K.O.

"I'm so sorry... Everyone..."

"And that's it folks! Let's hear it for our victor! The one, the only-"
"Clash couldn't believe what he was hearing, two people didn't even get to fight, the third didn't want to even be here, and through the stress of it all, people were almost killed, his friends were triggered.


And that wasn't even going to be acknowledged? That wasn't going to fly, so he shouts:

"SHUT UP! NOBODY WON THIS, YOU HEAR ME?!"

Clash falls to the floor, as the crowd goes to an awkward silence.
This could hardly be called a fair fight.

The duo in the announcer's booth look at each other for a bit, the win was just refused, and that doesn't happen too often.

"Ehm, alright, in that case... I guess nobody won?"
The betters were angry of course, what was going to happen to their money? Will they earn anything?
This end result was simply confusing all around.

The three remaining competitors are descended down into the med bay as well to recover, and be sent back home/someplace safe.


END

(To be clear, nobody won this, too many problems happened in the making of this rp for that to be fair.)