The Bloodied Hands Arena/Jack the Porcupine vs. Terra the Ocelot: Single Battle

== Spectating ==
Alexia the Hedgehog wore a blue vest with silver lining to represent her village in this battle. She was slightly annoyed at first when Mac came out of nowhere and said that Terra was battling someone, but as long as she wasn't hurt terribly, Alexia was happy. Hopefully, the scars Terra got wouldn't be so severe that even Healing Rings wouldn't be able to fix them....
Around Alexia, cats of all species and ages were also in the stands, conversing between one another. There were lynxes, tigers, leopards and more all waiting for Terra's opponent. They were all talking about random things - new toys, village politics, stuff like that. Due to being used to it, Alexia didn't mind the chaos in the slightest.
Vereco the Hedgehog was in the stands as well, although, unlike Alexia, she was alone. Vereco had come to watch Jack's match, as she'd been training him for weeks and wanted to see how well he'd do. However, she wasn't too busy to talk to someone else in the stands, so she looked around for someone else who might want to talk so that they could amuse themselves with discussion while nothing much was going on in the battle. Noticing that Alexia didn't seem to be talking to anyone, and that she was the only one in the group who wasn't involved in conversation, Vereco moved into a vacant seat near where Alexia was sitting and waved at her. "Hi there! Are you here to watch the battle too?" she said.
Alexia blushed lightly when she first heard someone call out, nervous it'd be someone she either didn't know or didn't like - but when she turned to Vereco, she smiled and waved. "Ah, V-Vereco! It i-is nice to see you here! Yes, I'm also watching that m-match - Terra is a symbol of hope for our village." Alexia rubbed her ears. "I'm her apprentice and one of her best friends, so I suppose I'm also here for emotional support, you could say."
"Oh, nice!" said Vereco. "I'm mostly here to see how Jack here does. I've been training him for the last few weeks whenever I'm not too busy, so I hope that he'll be able to put up some sort of a fight. It seems to really mean a lot to him...I think more than he lets on."
It'd be kinda sad to let a simple arena fight with nobody but a few random people change your life story... Alexia thought, though she made sure to say it in her head so she wouldn't offend Vereco. "Th-That's very sweet, Vereco..." she lied, wincing a little.
Vereco didn't respond, as she was too busy watching the arena battle to formulate a response to Alexia.
After a while of watching the battle, Vereco suddenly noticed a manuever that surprised her: Jack spinning around holding an extended bō to dodge a false charge made by Terra. "Wow, he's even better than I thought!" she said, surprise evident in her voice. "I didn't teach him to do that."
"Terra's gotten better, t-t-too," Alexia said with a smile. "She lost her first battle, so so far, she's doing a lot to redeem herself? All that training h-has been working, I think..." Alexia trailed off, but there was definitely happiness in her voice. "I'm proud of both c-competitors."
"Me too, Alexia," said Vereco, smiling warmly at Alexia.
Alexia jumped happily when she saw who had won. "Woo! Good j-job, Terra!"
Vereco looked slightly disappointed. "Huh. I had kind of hoped that Jack would win. Oh well, at least he got better." Turning to Alexia, she said, "Your friend Terra did well in the battle there."
Alexia, seeing Vereco's expression, sulked. The area around them got ten degrees colder. "O-Oh, I-I-I'm sorry to r-rub it in like that...." Alexia said, disappointed in herself.
Vereco, realizing that she had hurt Alexia's feelings, put her arm around Alexia consolingly. Something in the back of her mind told her that she was going to freeze her arm off if she held it there for too long, but she ignored it. "It's all right, Alexia," she said. "I knew when I came in here that Jack might lose the battle, just as I knew that he might win it. I had been hoping that he'd win, but I don't mind that you're rooting for the other combatant. After all, you came here wanting her to win, just as I wanted my combatant to win. Don't feel bad about cheering when Terra won. I'd honestly be far more surprised if you didn't."
Alexia looked up and smiled at Vereco. "Th-thank you, V-Vereco," she said, before looking at Vereco's arm. Ice was starting to form around it. Vereco, noticing this, pulled her arm out of the ice and shook her arm slightly before smiling at Alexia. "Any time, Alexia," she said, placing her arms behind her back (and hopefully out of Alexia's vision) so that she could rub the arm that had been around Alexia and try to warm it up.
== The Bloodied Battle ==
Terra Fauna, a yellow ocelot, was wearing a green vest with golden lining as she stood in the sandy arena, stretching and flexing before the match. Mac had signed her up for it, as challenge-happy as he could be, and now she was carrying all of her village's pride... for the second time. I hope that I shall not lose again. To have to face that type of embarrassment and shame once again is something that'd only happen in nightmares.
Buttoning up her vest, Terra was fully prepared - once Mac notified her, she was practicing for an indefinite amount of time. All of those push-ups, those training sessions with Scarlet and Mac, and all of that pressure excited Terra. She hoped that'd she do well - this was the day she'd been waiting for.
Jack the Porcupine walked out into the arena, gently spinning the long, thin metal stick that he held in both hands as he walked. Like Terra, he'd been preparing for this for a long time and really wanted to win, as he'd lost badly the previous time that he'd fought here. Upon seeing Terra, he stopped walking and started simply standing still, spinning his bō and trying to figure out whether he should talk to Terra or not. Talking to his opponent hadn't worked out that well in his last match.
Terra didn't give Jack that much time to consider his options, however - she greeted him by smiling and waving. "Hello, Jack! I see that you're not a slacker, look-wise. Let's have no ill intentions in this fight, shall we? My friend told me that if you die, you get revived, but let's still have a good battle and leave with our heads high, caused by a new experience."
Jack was noticeably motivated by Terra's speech. "...Yeah, let's do that," he said. He then brightened noticeably and said, "Yeah, that sounds good. And...can we try not to kill each other, just to knock each other out? I wasn't all that happy in my last match about getting hit in the back with a giant axe." Jack looked uncomfortable and rubbed his back with his left elbow.
Terra smiled. "Well, I can assure you I won't try to be as violent." Then, she dashed at Jack, trying to slide under his legs. Then, while behind him, she'd try to sweep kick him to knock him off his feet.
Jack, startled for a moment by Terra's abrupt starting of the match, quickly regained his composure in time to start spinning his staff rapidly, blocking Terra from getting through his legs. Her collision with his staff caused him to stagger back a few feet, where he stopped, trying frantically to figure out how to prepare himself for whatever Terra would do next.
Terra was stunned for a moment, not expecting Jack's sudden attack. She then got up and dashed past him before running in circles, trying to confuse him. Finally, she jumped in the air and tried to perform a downward kick to Jack's forehead.
Jack rotated back and forth while spinning his bō, trying to protect himself against any angle of attack without turning in circles and getting himself dizzy. When Terra tried to kick him in the head, he raised his bō to attack, but suddenly thought of a better plan. Using his momentum of moving his arm backwards, he dropped to the ground and slid, bringing his bō into a position where it would hopefully hit Terra's outstretched leg and pull her to the arena floor.
Once he caught Terra's leg, she was pulled downwards, but the ocelot thought of a plan. She landed on her hands, catching the bo with her legs, and then she starting twirling her body while upside down, trying to throw the staff away. It seemed to be a large part of Jack's moveset, so her goal was to disable him.
Jack held on to the staff tightly, leading him to be pulled instead. Due to Jack's weight, he wasn't thrown across the arena, but was instead dragged in circles around Terra. This gave Jack an idea: still holding on to his staff, he kicked off the ground with one foot while kicking forward with the other, trying to simultaneously throw Terra off balance and kick her in the back.
Jack's blow was successful, and Terra was knocked forward. However, she flipped over and landed on her feet, with her back facing him. Turning around, Terra lunged at Jack, but she ran past him. Once behind him, Terra attempted to deliver a swift chop to the neck in order to throw Jack off.
Jack spun around when he saw Terra run past him, then raised his bō to block the attack. Jack didn't follow this up with another move, as he was unsure of what would be the next course of action for him to take, opting to instead wait for Terra to move again. Terra, annoyed with how useful the bō was, tried to grab it out of his hands and throw it away. Jack, likewise annoyed at how frequently Terra tried to disarm him, simply used his super strength to hold onto the bō. Terra decided that while he was occupied trying to keep his bō, she would try to backhand him in the face with her other hand. Jack, in turn, released his grip on the bō with one hand to block Terra's hand, causing a sort of mid-air high-five. Then, grabbing his bō again, he tried to wrench it out of Terra's hand. Terra, still tugging at it, tried to perform a sweep kick to Jack. If she missed, she'd keep her hold on the staff, but if she hit, she'd let go.
Jack let go of the staff, allowing him to move backwards to avoid the kick. He glared angrily at Terra. "Fine," he said, barely able to keep his anger out of his voice. "You win this one." He then abruptly charged at Terra with his right fist extended, trying to punch her in the neck. Before he could get in her range, however, Terra tried to whack him in the cheek with his staff, having a bit of experience with a staff due to Schnee.
Jack dodged to his left, causing him to unbalance and fall over. He then started spinning upon hitting the ground due to his lack of balance, quickly moving into a horizontal Spin Dash. Jack panicked; this wasn't in his moveset. However, he was fairly difficult to hit in this state, as anyone trying to hit him would probably get hit by his fist or by his spines. Terra jumped over Jack with little difficulty, trying to get him to crash into the wall and damage himself.
Jack managed to slow himself down before he could hit the wall, spinning to a halt. He then righted himself and got into a defensive position, waiting for Terra to attack him while trying to come up with a plan for how to defend himself.
Terra took her claws out and dashed at Jack, only a foot away from him before jumpng over him. Then, after landing behind him, she tried to hit him three times in the back of his knees with his staff before sweep kicking him, leaving him on the ground, and insert her claws into his chest.
Terra's plan partially worked. Jack spun around when he saw her jump over his head, but she still hit him in the knees with his bō, as he expected her to hit higher up and blocked there. However, the first hit caused him to fall over backwards, which he turned into a roll, allowing him to right himself a short distance away from Terra. He then ran at Terra, planning to home in on her if she moved, at which point he would grab his staff and try to wrench it out of her hands. Terra saw Jack dash towards her and threw the bō into the air, leaving him without objective. Then, she tried to sidestep his lunge and low roundhouse kick him in the back.
Jack slowed himself down when he saw her throw the bō into the air, allowing him to grab it out of the air. After he did so, he spun to the side to face Terra, using his bō to block her kick to what was now his side. He then stepped back, spinning his bō as a makeshift shield while he figured out what to do next. Terra growled and started dashing around Jack quickly in all sorts of patterns, hoping he wouldn't be able to figure out what she'd be doing next before she thought of a plan. Jack, who was still trying to figure out a plan of his own, continued spinning his staff, but now he rotated side to side in order to be able to avoid Terra being able to suddenly charge him from behind. Terra, now having formed a plan, dashed at Jack from the side he was facing - then, she'd juke him out and go behind him to try to kick him in the head with a roundhouse kick.
Terra's plan worked perfectly. Jack blocked, but wasn't prepared for her kick from behind. Jack was hit and spun around, but managed to retain his footing, spinning to a halt several feet away. He wasn't in as good shape as before, suffering from a headache and somewhat blurry vision as a result of Terra's kick, but that was quickly recovering, and—more importantly—with Terra's attack, Jack's plan had fallen into place. However, as this plan involved her attacking him, he stayed in place, keeping himself at the ready for her next attack.
Terra, boiling with confidence, tried to a variation of her previous attack, she dashed at Jack, tried to jump over him, run around to his front hoping he'd already have turned around, and punch him in the face. Jack, prepared for something like this, extended his bo, spinning around rapidly. At the speed he rotated at, he was able to both avoid her punch (being slightly to the side of where her punch hit) and to attempt to attack her, trying to slam her in the inner side of her arm with his bō. Terra caught the attack, but slightly dizzy, it looked like she stood in place for a few seconds, vulnerable. Jack took this opportunity to pull his bō back, then tried to hit Terra in the back and knock her out.
Terra jumbled awake when Jack pulled the bō; she then caught the staff, now focused. She tried to yank it out of his hands, but if he tried to keep it in his possession, she would attempt to sweep kick him. Jack held onto the staff, using it as a handle to swing himself around it...that is, if Terra held onto the staff and was able to maintain her footing. If she held onto it but couldn't maintain her footing, she might be knocked over by this maneuver; if, on the other hand, she released the staff, Jack would go spinning through the air holding onto the staff. Terra, knowing that it was the staff or a potential victory, let go of the staff and tried to slide underneath Jack's legs. Then, she'd backflip over Jack to his front and try to sweep kick him.
Jack shot through the air, then started spinning backwards until he turned into a Spin Dash. Upon landing, he rapidly rolled to one side of the arena, rolled up the wall, shot off the wall, through the air, to about the middle of the arena, where he rolled around in circles for a second before unrolling. This left him standing in the center of the arena, looking somewhat dazed, but still as vigilant as ever, spinning his staff in front of him should Terra try to attack him before he could recover.
Terra burst at Jack with claws bared, trying to stop the spinning staff with one hand while trying to punch Jack in the face with the other. Jack was about to try a repeat of his earlier maneuver, where he would stop one hand with his staff and the other with his fist; however, recalling how poorly that went the previous time, he decided to instead rotate the staff into a position where it would block both Terra's hand and her fist. This blocked Terra's attacks, but Terra clamped her hand down on Jack's staff, once again immobilizing him. Looking annoyed, Jack said, "Why do you keep doing this? I thought this was supposed to be some kind of a learning experience for us. If you keep doing the same maneuver over and over, how's either of us supposed to get any better?"
Who said I was going to do the same thing? Terra thought, annoyed, before making her move. She pulled the staff lightly before going under it, turning around and trying to elbow Jack in the stomach while backwards. Then, she'd turn around, try to deliver three kicks to his head, stomach and chest before sweep kicking him.
Jack was hit in the stomach by Terra's elbow, but he still managed to turn around fast enough to block Terra's hits by holding his bō vertically, allowing him to easily block the stomach and chest kicks as well. However, Terra's sweep kick came as a surprise to him, causing him to stagger backwards for a second or two before sitting down, unable to keep himself upright any longer. He quickly stood up again, still backing up and now also spinning his staff in front of him as a shield, but it was clear that he was still unstable. Terra, seeing this, dashed in front of him, then waited until he lost focus for a moment and stopped spinning his staff, at which point she punched him in the face, causing him to fall over. He tried to get back up, but fell back over again. "Fine," he said. "You win. Just please don't kill me. That would be gratuitous."
Terra smiled, taking joy in her victory, before putting her hand out for him to grab. "I won't - I'm not a savage, after all. You were quite a good competitor. I'm impressed by your skill."
Jack half-smiled, then grabbed Terra's hand and pulled himself up with it, taking care not to knock either of them over in the process. "Thanks," he said. "You did a good job too..." Jack looked uncomfortable and started staring off into the distance as he slowly walked towards the edge of the arena. Terra frowned and burst next to him, by his side nearly immediately.
"Is anything the matter? You shouldn't be all too disappointed due to a loss, now - it's going to happen every now and then," Terra said, remembering her battle against Link Prower.
"It's all right, but..." Jack actually was disappointed about his loss, but he didn't want to tell Terra. "Can I call you up tomorrow and we can talk about it then? I just want...to think about this..." Terra gave a somber smile to Jack, along with a slight nod that said "Sure" before running out of the arena. Jack looked around for a different exit to the arena and left through there.
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