“Alright, final match” I said before activating the Gamer Driver and going into Iron Ring.

Moments after I appeared in the locker office, Aegir appeared. “Ready for the final match?”

“You bet! Who’s my opponent today?”

Aegir went over to the board and he slumped a bit. “It’s Jupiter.”

“Jupiter? You mean that one minotaur who’s taken out all his opponents with one punch?”

“Yeah. At this point, it would probably be best to just put on a good show before getting defeated in round 1.”

I sat down and contemplated his words for a moment. He had already accepted defeat, and if I did, then the fight would be over before it began. “Forget that.”

“Hm?”

“I’m going to go out there and I’m going to serve him his horns on a platter. And if I can’t do that, then I’m going to be the first one to actually hit him. Has anyone managed to hit him?”

“No, he always gets them first.”

“Then I’m going to do it.”

“Well, good luck. If nothing else, it’s good to see you get fired up.”

I spent the rest of the time until the start of the fight doing some shadowboxing. Fortunately, it didn’t take any of my stamina away, so I wouldn’t be at a stamina disadvantage when the match started.

“Alright Yang, it’s game time.”

I stopped my exercises and looked to the door, waiting for my cue from the announcer. “Welcome, everyone, to the final round of this season’s tournament! Are ya all ready for a fight? Let me hear ya scream, yeah yeah!!” She sounded a lot more energetic than the deadbeat announcer from the previous matches. A whole lot. The crowd sent up a loud cheer that lasted a good minute in response to him. “In the yellow corner is this season’s rising star, the one, the only, The Solar Dragon! Come on out girl, don’t keep the lovelies in suspense!” I stepped out on cue and waved to everyone as I made my way into the iron ring. “Let’s take a minute to look at how she made it here!”

I saw a montage of clips from my fights, showing the last few seconds of each one, leading up to the final knockout punch. It started with Railroad and went to Fireball, also showing the evolving ring designs. While that went on, I admired the ring I was in. Its posts were made of thick steel, the floor was tiled with steel squares and rectangles, and the ropes were made of thick steel cables. The floor was also pretty high up, allowing everyone in the massive audience to clearly see what was going on.

The announcer continued. “And now presenting the bull in the bloody red corner, the reigning champion, undefeated for the past six seasons, The Raging Red Storm himself, Jupiteeerrr!!!” Curious at why the announcer was so energetic today, I looked up at the announcer’s booth, only to find a human announcer instead, wild, spiky red hair covering her head. I tried to ignore the fact the game developers decided to make her outfit more revealing than any I’ve worn, what with her wearing a skin-tight latex suit with a zipper that was showing off her cleavage. All of her cleavage.

I shook my head and looked back to the ring ahead of me, where my opponent was waiting. To describe the minotaur fully decked out in heavy mechmail that showed up as a mountain would be inappropriate, as there were many smaller, less intimidating mountains out there, like Everest. That, combined with the swirling red mist, ominous red glow, and sporadic lightning bolt effects, was making him really scary. Even Tirek wasn’t as scary as Jupiter, who had this constant scowl on his armored face. He didn’t even climb into the ring, rather jumping up over the ropes and into his corner, and he did not land quietly either, shaking the whole thing.

“Let’s take a look at how Jupiter got here, lovelies! Yeow!”

The sound of a door slamming came from the booth and echoed into the microphone, and soon after an irritated, familiarly tired voice sounded out. “Would you keep it quiet, Stash? I’m trying to take a power nap.”

“Aww, don’t be like that, Grins! Come on, join me!” Stash invited.

‘Grins’ groaned audibly, but I didn’t hear the door close, so I guessed he joined her.

The clip show for Jupiter finally started, and went through the same arenas I had, but his pattern of fights went very differently from mine.

Blizzard Knuckle went down with one punch from Jupiter.

A minotaur named Brass Knuckle, only clad in cloth armor, went down in one punch.

Another minotaur, named Iron Shod, decked out like a knight, went down in one punch.

A human named Yin Sturm Blitz, wearing mostly leather armor, went down in one punch.

An alicorn called Shadow Step was zipping around Jupiter with lots of afterimage visuals before going down with one punch.

A regal alicorn, Old Iron King, who looked like he was made of molten metal under his platemail, went down from one punch. It made for an interesting parallel to my fight with Fireball.

“Aegir, why did I agree to this?” I asked my coach after the montage ended. Some of my fire for the fight had decided to leave, complete with fully packed and matching royal luggage sets.

“It’s a good excuse to take a break from work today” Aegir answered. “Also, good practice for fighting in general.”

“But today’s Sunday, and we don’t open until 3 the rest of the week anyways.”

The announcer, Grins, continued. “Jupiter, are you ready?” Grins yawned into the mic. Jupiter said nothing, but rather cracked his heavily armored knuckles as his mist and lightning visuals died down a bit, revealing more of his body, causing a bit more of my fire to leave. “Right, right, menacing silent type gig, whatever. Solar Dragon, are you ready?”

I took a calming breath. “Yeah.”

“Alright, contestants, FIGHT!” said the minotaur announcer in the middle of the ring, whom had remained quiet before while his fellow announcers talked.

As soon as the suited minotaur left the ring, the bell went off. Jupiter and I went towards the middle of the Iron Ring with our fists raised. Before I could do anything, Jupiter threw a massive right hook at my face. It connected, my HP went down to zero, and I went down to the ground face first.

“Ooh, a big hit from Jupiter!” Stash announced.

“As usual” Grins voice added.

“Okay, that hurt” I thought as the count began.

“The Solar Dragon has certainly put on a good show this season, if nothing else” the other, unnamed commentator noted.

“Gotta get back up.” I found the energy to slam a fist on the floor as the count reached four.

“It looks like another classic Jupiter win for this-” I got back up just as the count reached seven “-Solar Dragon’s back uuup!!!”

I barely had time to get my arms up to defend myself before Jupiter was on me, punching me around the ring a few times before I was back down, this time on my back. “Oww. . .” Once again, the count was on. “I’m not going to stay down so easily.” With that decision made, some fire returned and I sat up. A second later, I was back on my feet.

“I don’t believe it! The Solar Dragon has gotten up not once, but twice against Jupiter! Someone should give her a medal just for that!” Stash entertained. Meanwhile, Jupiter was quick to get me in the corner and started slugging me while I kept up my defense.

The unnamed announcer chimed in after a few seconds of the onslaught. “It may be taking longer than usual, but unless Solar Dragon does something soon-” I cut the announcer off with a right uppercut to Jupiter’s face, sending him back in shock and silencing the audience. While he was surprised, I advanced. He quickly recovered and threw a punch, which I dodged before countering it. I dodged and countered two more times, each attack with a bit more energy than the previous, and each of his own missing me by a hair and leaving a burst of air to rush past me.

I came close to activating my trio of visual effects with a fifth hit when Jupiter changed his attack and hit my gut. It didn’t feel quite as powerful as his initial attacks did, but it was enough to send me back. I managed to dodge him for a while longer before more of his attacks started landing and I was back in the corner. I managed to get a defense up just in time to mitigate some of the damage from a series of dual punches to my gut, followed by double uppercuts.

“This round’s going to be close,” Grins said over my beating with mild interest. “Up, down, up, down, up, down...” The dual punches stopped and I slumped in the corner as Jupiter loomed a fist over me to try and end it. “Jupiter’s going for a big one-” The bell went off. “-And Solar Dragon is saved by the bell. Huh. I don’t believe it.” He sighed deeply, and there was the sound of coins being exchanged. There was brief and polite thank you from the unnamed announcer before Grins continued. “Well, for the first time, Jupiter’s going to have a second round. Yaaay...”

As soon as Aegir slid a stool under me, I slumped down on it. “How’s it looking, boss?” I asked him.

Aegir looked at his clipboard and pulled out a big medkit. “I’m not sure how you did it, but you survived. Have a heal.”

“Thanks.” I opened and used the medkit, restoring most of my missing health, which was a lot. “Know anything about what ultimate he’s running?”

“Nope, but I’d be willing to bet on Afterimage for a change of tactics. Jupiter’s obviously traded out agility for raw power, so switching it in the middle of a round would make the most sense.”

“Strategy?”

“Keep attacking his armor. If you can break it, you’ll have the upper hand. Only attack when possible. Avoid as much as you can so you can heal more.”

“Alright. Got it.”

Once the minute between rounds was over, it was time to continue

Rarity would have liked to see me during round two for just how much and how well I was weaving around Jupiter. I didn’t manage to get the requirements in to activate my visuals, but I managed to knock out around 10% of his health and damage his armor further while only taking glancing blows. The visuals didn’t get a chance to activate though.

I managed to deal a good amount of damage to Jupiter’s mechmail helmet with a trio of desperate attacks after a back and forth of gut punches between us. I could tell he wasn’t going at full power with the punches, which I initially considered to be a strategy of his, as little sense as it made to me. The only thing I could come up with was that it might have had something to do with his armor.

For the first minute of round four, things went like they had before. I was feeling confident with my health up higher than Jupiter’s, even if it was just by a little percentage. He apparently had no healing outside of his natural regen.

Things took a turn for the scary before the second minute was over. “Jupiter activates his ultimate move, Fortify!” At first, I wasn’t worried since Fortify would make him slower, and he wasn’t too agile to start with. Then, it got bad. “And he’s somehow gotten faster, in defiance of Fortify’s agility penalty! Uh whaaaaaaat!?” Stash said dramatically.

“Oh Spanish Inquisition” was all I had time to think before he was on me like a freight train with rails on top carrying another freight train. I barely managed to move in time to turn a potential full body blow into a glancing blow, which still hurt quite a bit.

“How did Jupiter get a speed boost from Fortify? Please tell me I can disqualify him for cheating. If I could, I could sleep for so long...” Grins seemed to almost plead at the end.

The other announcer answered after a shuffling of papers. “It looks like his agility is so low that the strength boost from Fortify lightens the armor for him enough that it overcomes the agility loss. That is a clever exploit, showing us that Jupiter’s playstyle isn’t all power!”

“That’s a pretty clever tactic! Let’s see if he finally breaks this stroke of luck Solar Dragon has!” Stash said.

Even though I still had the agility advantage, the sudden speed boost Jupiter had was disorienting. As I was dodging and rolling while trying to figure out just how he got the speed boost from Fortify (despite the announcers), I made a single misstep, allowing Jupiter to, in the span of a couple seconds, put me in a headlock, and deliver a boosted uppercut to my face, disorienting me right as his Fortify ended. “Solar Dragon’s stumbling around the ring! Ooooh nooooo!! Jupiter pushes her into a corner, this could be the last round!”

I tried to move my arms into a defensive stance, but all four images I was seeing refused to line up or orient correctly and I was taking blow after blow to the gut. I was able to make out a countdown though.

“Five! Four! Three! Two! One!” *DING DING DING* “That’s the end of round four!”

Jupiter’s assault on my gut ceased as he went back to his corner and I hung onto the ropes for dear life. I was down to less than 5% health.

“Each team has an extra 30 seconds to work out a plan for the final round, which will last until someone’s down for the full ten seconds. If you have any more bets to place, this is the time to do it.” There was a pause, then a chuckle. “Don’t worry Grins, the rest of your money is safe.”

“For nooowww~!” Stash sing-songed.

“...I hate you both,” Grins said with a signature tired groan.

As soon as Aegir had the stool under me, I collapsed onto it. “Okay, here’s some meds for you, boss.” I went through the motions of using the bandages, during which time my vision cleared up. After the meds came a repair kit to fix the Ember Celica. They had taken a lot of damage during the fight.

“I feel sick, coach” I said.

“Considering what you went through, I’m not surprised. It’ll pass before you know it. Have an energy shot.” I used the offered energy shot and I started feeling better almost immediately after drinking it. “I’ll be honest, I never thought we would make it this far. So, um. . . I wish I had something good to saayyy-!” Aegir was suddenly pulled away by a hand that looked a lot like mine.

Someone playing human with light violet eyeshadow and wearing a copy of my formal dress took Aegir’s place. “Gilda here, champ.” She slapped me across the face, which dealt no damage. “Now, listen to me, you dolt. You’ve already made it further than anyone else apparently has against this Jupiter plothole guy, and we’re not going to watch you concede defeat here. You’ve beaten a giant centaur, you’ve beaten a music vampire, and you wrecked an alien destruction machine in the cold. This guy is nothing compared to them, and nothing compared to you, even in this game. I want you to GET OUT THERE, and show him just what it means to be fighting THE legendary Yang Xiao Long herself! Show him, show everyone, that minotaurs are not the game’s fighting kings that they think they are. Now go out there and make us proud.” Gilda brought my attention to a small portion of the audience nearby, purple stars over their heads. “We’re all rooting for you.”

After Gilda left the ring, she threw Aegir back in front of me. “Well, that happened” he said as he got back up. “Just use Second Wind as soon as you get out there.”

I smiled as I stood up and kicked the stool out of the ring. “Gotcha.”

The bell rang and I went out there. I activated Second Wind, fully healing up and feeling even better than before thanks to the overheal. Jupiter and I started by punching each other across the face. He didn’t deal nearly as much damage as he had before, and it took a few hits from him to kill the overheal. The first one that dealt damage to my actual health had a bit more power to it and sent me spinning into the ropes.

I kept my hands up and ready while Jupiter was delivering lots of weaker punches to my gut. “Wait, this feels familiar” I thought. “Where have I seen this before?”

“Hey, are you seeing this?” one announcer asked. “Jupiter’s slowing down!”

The other announcer continued. “With such a low agility stat, his stamina’s likewise low, and his choice of armor does not help that. It’s turning that out he’s not made for long fights.” A short pause. “Like Grins here.”

“...I’m sleeping through your birthday for that one, Maximus,” Grins shot back with a surprising amount of anger.

‘Maximus’ just laughed.

Jupiter was breathing heavily when he backed off and I finally remembered where I’d seen the scenario I was in before. I put on my best smirk, brought up my hand, and made the universal ‘bring it’ gesture.

“Solar Dragon’s taunting Jupiter! She’s actually asking for more! Daaang girl! You gots fiyah!!” With an angry snort, Jupiter started attacking me again, swinging for my head, which I was able to block.

Meanwhile, the crowd started chanting “Dragon! Dragon! Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!” and I could almost hear inspirational music beginning to play.

Jupiter didn’t take long to go back to the gut blows, which were becoming slower and weaker with each punch. His breathing was also becoming much heavier. After a punch that did practically no damage, I dropped my defense with a fresh smirk and threw an uppercut, sending Jupiter reeling back. He didn’t have enough energy to put up a defense and I started my attack in in earnest. The trio of fire effects I had on finally activated after a few more consecutive punches, lighting my fists and hair up with fire and giving me fiery wings.

“The Solar Dragon is on fire! For real! Look at her go! Jupiter has lost all his inertia and is being pushed back!”

I got Jupiter into a corner and kept punching his body, each hit making the fire effects more intense. Bits of his armor started breaking off as well. All the fire that had left me came back in that moment, and it had brought friends too.

Jupiter soon collected himself enough to throw a wide punch, which I ducked under, then dove out of the way of a similar follow up punch. While he was open, I jumped up enough to throw a hook at his face. The fire effect sent out a ghostly white shockwave on impact, which went well with the bits of armor that flew off. I could tell he had some stamina back, so I got back in close to keep attacking.

He got his hands on my shoulders and started pushing me away, but I was still able to punch his body. He wasn’t dealing any damage with the move, so the fire effects kept getting more intense, the shockwaves getting larger and taking on a red tinge. My forearms were also fully encased in the effect.

I rolled with a weak throw from Jupiter and got right back to him, aiming a punch for his body, but he pinned my arm. Undeterred, I started swinging at him with my free arm, using the pin for a bit of leverage to get more power in the punches, alternating between his gut and his face.

It didn’t take long for him to release me and I continued with both arms. I was on a roll, and the shockwaves were turning into fire. “The Solar Dragon is relentless in her attack! Jupiter’s on the ropes! Left! Right! Left! A huge uppercut!” It was then that the mighty storm collapsed. “Jupiter’s down!”

I spared only a moment to wave to the crowd during the count before turning back to Jupiter. I also noticed that the fire on my forearms was constant and extended nearly two feet behind my elbow.

“Five! Six! Seven!” Jupiter got back up before the count finished and I was immediately on him, quickly throwing punch after punch at his head, never letting up and never giving him the chance to breathe. After getting him back to the ropes, I changed the punch direction and sent him stumbling sideways.

“This could be it, everyone! Solar Dragon’s on a roll, and is showing no sign of stopping! Jupiter can’t put together any kind of offense or defense! This is a spectacle to see! Wait, what’s going on?” I got Jupiter into a corner and taunted him from a few feet away. He fell for it and very slowly advanced. Meanwhile, I ran back to the opposite corner, jumped, and kicked off the corner post. Jupiter was stunned by the display long enough that I had an easy time delivering a solid flying punch to his face, destroying his helmet with a big explosion effect and knocking him down again while I landed in the corner I’d lead him into.

The crowd began the count immediately. “One! Two! Three!” Jupiter tried to get up. “Four! Five! Six! Seven!” He did his best. “Eight! Nine! Ten!” It wasn’t enough.

The announcer took back over. “And there it is! Jupiter is down for the count! For the first time ever, Jupiter has lost! This season’s winner is The Solar Dragon!”

“Good. Can I go back to sleep now?” Grins asked.

“Maybe~, maybe nooot~,” Stash sing-songed again. Grins groaned while Maximus chuckled.

Before Jupiter’s coach and Aegir made it to us, I made my way over to Jupiter and gave him a hand up to his hooves. “Good game” I said.

“You too” Jupiter said with a polite nod before walking away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a group of minotaurs in the audience taking among themselves, and they did not look happy, though one appeared more interested in me.

From the other direction came a small herd of friends, a fairly even mix of human, alicorn, and minotaur. I could tell that it was everyone from the Carne Den behind the avatars, and I enjoyed the well earned cheers.

The announcers, a tired looking alicorn, an excited human, and a professional minotaur, came down to the ring. One made his way through the herd and to me. “Solar Dragon, you have defeated the reigning champion, The Raging Red Storm Jupiter himself. What are your thoughts and feelings on that?”

“It wasn’t easy, let me tell you” I answered. “He’s powerful, and he apparently used every advantage he could. That Fortify exploit was nothing short of a genius move. I really thought I was going to lose right then and there at round four.”

The other announcer took his turn with Jupiter. “Jupiter, this is your first ever defeat. What are your thoughts and feeling on that?”

Jupiter drank an energy shot before answering. “It’s different. If anything, I’m happy to have had this fight. It was a challenge, and I applaud Solar Dragon for that. She has amazing skills, and I’m sure she could take on twenty other human players at once and come out on top.”

“And that’s that for the interviews. Once again, this season’s champion is The Solar Dragon!”

After waving to everyone for a minute and giving Jupiter one last handshake, I closed the Gamer Driver, pulled out the Gashats in it, and held Iron Ring up for a moment before letting my arm flop onto the bed. “How can a game make me feel so sore everywhere?” I asked nobody. It really felt like I’d been wrung out like a washcloth and beaten up by Jupiter himself. “Ah well. I think I’ll build a display of some kind for it.” There was a boom of thunder and then it started raining. Hard. “Another day.” After taking the belt off and setting it aside, I curled up under my blankets and slept well.

Author's Notes:

The lines for all three announcers were done by the great Eternal Ethereal Timeless Celestial.

Now to credit the contenders knocked out by Jupiter
-Blizzard Knuckle is mine. MINE!
-Brass Knuckle is from Yukieiros
-Iron Shod is from NeoLegendDJ
-Yin Sturm Blitz is from Gundamdragon
-Shadow Step is from my good buddy StainedBarrel
-Old Iron King is from Timeless Celestial Eternal Ethereal

Not everyone's submitted characters could be used, but that's the way it is.