"You've heard about the Melatonin tribe?" Cordayl asks, surprised.
"Of course, I've been fortunate enough to get my hands on some rather rare land books. Unfortunately, my children never took up my love of reading. Then Eurick would have known his "sparring partner" is atmospheres out of his league." He chuckles.
Then, the father's monocle shines. "How about a sparring match with Eurick?"
"I don't recommend that." Eursala interjects, "You see, Cordayl is still recovering from their last bout, and it's in my professional opinion that he remains inactive for now."
The father rebuts, "Nonsense. The young man is fine. He said so himself. Right Cordayl?"
"I'm up for it!" Eurick smirks.
"Me too!" The voice adds in.
Sensing Cordayl's hesitation, the father adds, "You and I both know these mermaids will never get to see a Melatonin fight ever again. It'll be a first for me outside of the legends. How about it?"
Cordayl's mood worsens hearing this truth. "Sure." He answers. Eurick smiles and Cordayl follows him to an empty area of the dome.
Considering his mood change, Cordayl thinks he should change his mind. Staring around at the mermen, Cordayl can see the lust of combat bursting through their pupils as they wait for the first punch to be thrown.
Looking at Eursala, Cordayl peeps the concern in her eyes as she silently tells him not to fight.
"Aww she's doesn't want you to get hurt." The voice mocks the girl's worry about his health. Cordayl doesn't tell him to shut up, but a vein pops out of his head.
The vein only grows as Cordayl looks at Eurick who is also smirking, his eyes gleaming with confidence.
And Cordayl would love to take that away from him.
"Don't worry, I'll try not to hit you too hard," Eurick states, stretching his limbs.
Cordayl smiles as his voice joins in unison with the one in his head, "I doubt you'll lay a finger on me."
"Is that so?" Eurick doesn't take Cordayl's response well.
Cordayl bounces around a bit, throwing a few punches and kicks to see how his body moves underwater. He activates his gravity to function close to how he would on land.
Seeing that Cordayl is ready and staring at him, Eurick puts his hands up. Cordayl does the same as the fight is about to start.
As they stare at each other, a large, colorful school of Fleffer fish swims in between them, and they can hear the excitement of the diplomats as they see the beautiful fish approach and swim around them and crowd around Eursala, who smiles and throws out more fish flakes for them.
Eyes locked onto his opponent, Cordayl watches as Eurick sashays up to him and starts his attack.
Cordayl doesn't move, he just dodges each of Eurick's heavy blows. They're slow, but Cordayl can feel the power behind each swing as he realizes that Eurick isn't doing too good of a job at holding back.
Cordayl can see the aggravation starting to set in, as all of Eurick's hits and combos miss their mark. Angry, Eurick throws out a massive 20-punch combo in hopes of landing just one punch on this punk.
Cordayl gracefully avoids all of these swings as he dodges and backflips out of Eurick's reach.
The diplomats clap as they watch Cordayl's graceful gymnastics, and Cordayl playfully bows at their acknowledgment. Eurick, to hide his frustration, also throws in his applause. "Shall we go another round?" Eurick ask.
"If you're up for it," Cordayl tells him.
A twisted smile cracks across Eurick's face. "Splendid." Eurick claps his hands hard, and the wave he sends paralyzes Cordayl in his place as electricity courses through his body.
Eurick quickly swims up to him and punches him once in the stomach, folding Cordayl over as he feels the force of the punch. Eurick then uppercuts him hard, sending Cordayl flying vertically towards the dome.
As he is ascending, Cordayl recovers just in time to see Eurick throw a punch right at his face. Cordayl blocks the hit, and the force of it pisses Cordayl off, as he starts to go on the offensive and starts to throw his own punches.
As the two ascend higher and higher, trading punches, Cordayl flips the switch on the gravity, increasing it tenfold, and the two opponents start to head back down to the sea floor.
Feeling the weight of the gravity, Eurick's punches start to slow down, but Cordayl's hits come at him faster and harder. As they near the ground, Cordayl closes the gap and is on top of Eurick, punching and kicking him at close range.
Eurick, knowing they are about to hit the ground, throws himself out from under the air breather and rolls away as he hears Cordayl crash into the ground, the impact shaking the dome.
Getting up, Eurick grits his teeth as he looks at the raucous Cordayl's crash has caused. His eyes squint with rage as he realizes he was meant to be at the bottom of that crash.
Eurick can see Cordayl's shadowy body walk out of the hole he created. While he can't fully see the air breather, Eurick gets a glimpse of his eyes and feels the intensity of its stare, as Cordayl locks in on him.
Eurick whistles, and upon command, his shark swims upon his side. Mounting Shamua, Eurick grabs his golden trident and aims it at the air breather's chest.
Cordayl climbs out of the hole, and brushes off the dirt and sediment that is still on his shoulders. As the dirt returns to the seafloor, Cordayl stares down Eurick, who is teething in anger.
The voice laughs, seeing the look on his face. "Looks like we've upset him." the voice chuckles as Cordayl watches Eurick mount his shark and draw a weapon.
"They want to see a Melatonin warrior. Lets show them something." The voice instigates.
Gravity hits the dome, shaking its glass barrier. Everyone but Eurick and his father, whose eyes are locked on Cordayl, notice the increased pressure and shaking. Also activating the reversal, the two fields meet in the middle.
The area of focus narrows down to Cordayl's open palm, and he condenses it until it's the size of a tennis ball.
"Ancestor's emotion. Embarrassment." Cordayl whispers
Eurick screams as he charges at Cordayl, his shark roaring with him as he races to take a bite out of Cordayl before his master can impale him.
Cordayl waits until he can see the three glistening edges of Eurick's trident before he unleashes the devastating weight of his blast.
Out from Cordayl's palm shoots a wave that swallows Eurick and his pet whole. The wave crushes them with its power while violently tossing and tumbleweeding them across the closed dome waters, carrying them back to where they started.
Cordayl controls the energy by moving his palm around, sending Eurick and his shark towards the spectators.
The father calmly steps out in front to defend his daughter, but Cordayl closes his fist and cancels the attack, leaving Eurick and his shark rolling to stop right by his father's feet.
Cordayl walks past the defeated Eurick, who can't seem to pick himself up off of his hands and knees. At least he's stronger than his shark, who is just lying there like a knocked-out Pokemon.
Cordayl smiles as all the diplomats clap for him, as he has emerged the winner. What was supposed to be a friendly sparring session, quickly turned to a hard fought and exciting fight.
Cordayl smiles lightly and it widens some, as Eursala also throws in her congratulations. Cordayl coolly accepts the acknowledgment.
Eurick, still fighting to stand, spits at the evidence of his defeat. Looking back and seeing Cordayl accepting handshakes and back pats, Eurick's embarrassment evolves to rage.
Eurick picks up his spear, but his father puts his hand on the spear as well. Looking down, his monocle shines menacingly as he tells his child, "Maintain your dignity, son."
Still holding on to the trident, the father compliments Cordayl. "The Melatonin are truly marvelous warriors. Thank you for the showing" The father says, helping his son up.
"Well, I must say, this afternoon has been completely unexpected but more than enjoyable. Eursala, please feel free to show our guest the beauty of Atlanta during his stay. I must be on my way, as we have another stop to make. Till next time, Cordayl. Eursala dear." The father receives a kiss from his daughter as he turns to leave the dome. The diplomats say their good-byes and farewells and follow after the father.
Cordayl watches the mermen leave the dome and when he turns his attention back to Eursala, he sees her staring at him with a new found attraction that vibrates through the water.
"What?" Cordayl ask, not breaking the eye contact.
"You're just a very interesting character. You went from fish food to fish slayer in an instant." Eursala jokes.
"I'm sorry for that whole thing. I didn't plan for the fight to escalate so suddenly, but sometimes my temper gets the best of me." Cordayl apologizes.
"Ohh I'm not bothered at all. The brute needed to be knocked down a few pegs." Eursala says. "Well I'm sure after a hard fought battle like that, you wouldn't mind a swim in the recovery pool."
"Nah, I'm fine, but if you wouldn't mind cooking something up. I'm hungry as hell." Cordayl admits with a smile.