A fight requires might

Cracking my knuckles I picked up the fighting game, granted it was about my mid-level specialty but I sucked at driving and I'm fairly certain Etna would snipe me to hell so I picked something that I most likely would have the advantage in. Sure enough the moment I picked it up Etna gave me a grin, the same unnerving smile that she gave Abby when she picked her punishment card, "Oh? Are you suuuure about that one Johnny?" I grinned right back, bending over so I was nose to nose with Etna proving that I wasn't falling for her little psychological warfare, "Oh yeah, I'm sure."

Etna gulped but refused to back down, walking over to one of the chairs and sitting down as I took care of the set up. With a little bit of time, and money given that the store rented play time, we had the game on screen and all ready to play. "You know you're going to lose right Johnny?" Etna said with a casual air, picking one of the many female characters on the screen. I chuckled at her choice, one of the better characters that would be difficult to beat...unless the person was a button masher that is, "Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the defeated scream you yell in the future."

For my part I chose a balanced character, one with a fair number of easily chain-able combos with a decent amount of power behind their hits. With that done and the stage set we waited, letting the game set its paces before the big flag wove for us to begin. Instantly I was on Etna's ass, a seventeen chain combo giving me a decent lead on her heavily armored character. Just as I had guessed, Etna was a button masher when it came to this game so with the sacrifice of a few powerful hits I was able to win the first match with half drained health.

Etna growled quietly and leaned forward in her seat, her tail tensing sharply as the next round began. Just as before I was able to begin the match with a decent combo but just as I was setting up the next, one of Etna's more powerful attacks caught me off guard, slamming me to the ground and giving her plenty of time to wind up a few destructive hits that knocked my health down to zero. Buckling down I looked at Etna and she looked at me, a smug grin on her face that showed her pride...as they say, pride cometh before the fall.

Turning back to the game I noticed it was the last round, both of our characters having saved up enough energy to pull off a super special attack each. I began the round with a combo, backing off as I saw her ground smash maneuver come around in an attempt to press her previous advantage. However I was caught off guard by her series of pokes, keeping my character as distance before she slammed me with a smash to the side of the screen. I instant recovered before she could jump on me, instead turning the tables with a counter combo that brought her down to just a quarter of her heath.

With me already there and my gauge full I pulled off my special, my character winding up with the pre-cut animation in progress. However, just as my character had started their special so did Etna's her scene animation coming only the moment mine finished. So here we were, her character preparing as mine charged. I was certain I had won the draw but you can never be to certain...