Asterion shunted forward with a shoulder tackle. Gamer barely dodged by leaping aside. Asterion instead pegged the dining chairs Gamer lounged in. He sent it hurling into the wall. However, it rattled to the floor without breaking.
Asterion and Persica made eye contact, and the minotaur waved, "As promised."
"Mhmm," the princess remained composed. A few shroomans shuffled into the grand hall to serve their princess tea. She wanted refreshments for the deathmatch.
Asterion faced Gamer, and saw him struggling to remove an item from his pocket. He yanked out a large turtle shell.
"Your items! I sure hope they help," Asterion waited.
"Hack Doug in!" Gamer yelled as he hucked the shell. It flew towards Asterion, but the minotaur didn't move. Instead, just as it reached him, he performed a perfect guard and stopped the shell. It plopped right in front of him.
"Is that all you got?" Asterion asked. He expected the guard to have thrown Gamer off, but the cheater grinned from ear to ear.
"Show Ryu in!" the shell yelled. Asterion's head snapped backwards as an uppercut knocked him for a loop. He stumbled back, and his aggressor landed from the flying uppercut, outside of her shell. It was Lil Min.
"You...you're the topless chick from yesterday..." Asterion tasted blood in his mouth. Her boxing shells hit hard.
"Nuh uh! I'm Lil Min! I ain't nothin' like the weakling you met," Lil Min juked in place, and delivered quick punches to nobody.
"You got this, Lil Min! Flap like a fish, slap like a hand!" doc shrooman made a reappearance beside Persica. The princess disassociated with her subordinate.
Asterion sneered and lashed out, "What kind of trickery is this?! Summoning an ally in a one-on-one?"
"The shell counts as an item. It doesn't account for anything inside the shell," Gamer snapped his fingers.
"They should really call you Cheater instead of Gamer..."
"Call me whatever you want. In the end, I'm gonna be the Winner," Cheater stuck out his tongue.
"Cocky bastard," Asterion noticed what he did there. He then examined Lil Min, who stood prepared to fight. Asterion asked, "Am I really about to fight an actual pocket monster?"
"Go, Lil Min! Use tackle!" Gamer shouted. Lil Min launched her own shoulder tackle, but Asterion perfect guarded and forced her back.
"Quit hiding behind others and fight your own battles," Gamer's cowardice infuriated the minotaur.
"I'm not hiding," Gamer pulled out his next item: the flare flower. He consumed the power up, and the flames of war erupted around him. His hair flickered and his eyes glowed, "It's a tag battle, motherfucker!"
Asterion snorted, flexed his frustration out, and then slammed his fists together. His own fire was stoked, "Fine, you punk ass brat! Give me everything you've got!"
Persica fanned herself after seeing both men fired up. Gamer and Lil Min jumped Asterion. Lil Min unleashed a flurry of punches at the minotaur's legs, while Gamer relied on feinting flips and fireball trick shots. Asterion abandoned the perfect guards for straight up evasion. Though the hits they landed were light, it started adding up.
Gamer and Lil Min synchronized their attacks with a mirrored punch combo. Asterion saw his combo breaker; he shimmered like metal as he spun and coiled his arms inwards. The duo's punches did nothing against Asterion's I-frames. After the full rotation, Asterion flung his arm out like a swinging tree trunk. Gamer maneuvered in front of Lil Min to protect her, and the attack rang his bell. It flung him back and knocked the duo off their feet.
Gamer corrected himself with the momentum and landed on all fours. However, to his disappointment, the flare flower was knocked out of him. Lil Min staggered to her feet. Unlike Gamer, she wasn't used to the physicality yet.
Asterion charged forward. He lunged at Gamer and drove an uppercut. Flashbacks of their first fight appeared before Gamer. He read the attack and bounced backwards while splitting his legs. Lil Min dashed under him and plowed a boxing shell into Asterion's gut. Gamer landed, grasped Lil Min's ankles, pirouetted with her, and used her as a bat to smack Asterion. Her shells volleyed him into the air. They successfully launched him!
"Shit..." Asterion became defenseless. A series of choreographed double attacks juggled Asterion across the grand hall. The final move involved a diagonal roundhouse delivered by Gamer. Lil Min followed it up by leapfrogging over him and delivering a meteoric punch. Asterion crashed into the floor.
This was followed up by Asterion's announcer, "Round 1! Complete!"
"Yes!" Persica nearly jumped up. She quickly composed herself from the outburst, nervously glancing about. Samira sent Gamer ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡
Lil Min celebrated the first half of their victory by jumping up and down. If they kept this up, a second round sweep would be easy. That's when Gamer noticed Asterion's posture. A sprinter's readied position.
"Round 2! Fight!" the announcer roared.
"Atomic Clothesline!" Asterion bulleted forward. He smashed his arm into Lil Min with the power of a nuclear bomb. The sound barrier exploded and blew Gamer away. Asterion's Super sent Lil Min flying.
"Eeeeeeee!" Lil Min wailed. She crashed into one of the windows, the border of the stage. Her body erupted into a pillar of light, and her scream and life ended. Minnie was obliterated.
"Crispy critters!" Gamer heart shattered.
Asterion's aura reflected the dark, demonic mythology he was from, "You've nothing more to rely on than just yourself."
"You killed Minnie, you bastard!"
Asterion sidestepped to knock Gamer's dome with an elbow. However, Gamer ducked and pulled out another item; a construction spring. He pressed it against Asterion, and like last time, the spring pushed the minotaur back. Asterion dropped his weight to drag his feet and slow his speed. Chairs and tables collected behind him without breaking and prevented him from also being obliterated.
Gamer used the spring again to vault high and towards Asterion. He front flipped to spin rapidly and stuck his leg out for a heel strike. Asterion countered by using I-frames and spearing his horns up with a jump. He tanked the ax kick and one of the horns pierced Gamer. Persica shrieked, and Samira ( ˶°ㅁ°)!!, at the gory sight. Upon closer inspection, the horn lacerated Gamer's side; it was not a puncture. However, he fell into Asterion's head like it was a turnbuckle. They landed, with Asterion holding Gamer's weight up with his head alone.
"I have to admit, you've gotten better. If you stopped fooling around so much, you'd be a legitimate threat," Asterion said. He grasped Gamer by the wrist and ankle and lifted him up above his horns.
Gamer twisted Asterion's wrist, and wiggled free. He imitated a pro luchador and spiraled his way around Asterion's shoulders and neck. Gamer cinched Asterion into a headlock and drove his weight down. Asterion's head smashed into the floor, but his horns saved him. Gamer tumbled sideways after the failed head plant.
Asterion shoveled Gamer up in his arms and over his shoulders. He powerbombed him into one of the dining tables. Gamer landed back and neck first, and due to the environmental protections, the table did not break. Asterion shouted, "I am the table!"
"That's not even a video game reference..." Gamer crumbled to the floor.
"Round 2! Complete!" the announcer called.