DwhitetheGamer

"I'll just leave your answer as follows," Copper said to Topaz regarding the question. "Our true team leader, Jade Lotus, is currently undergoing training and I was brought in to fight in her absence. And it seems that I'll be having an extended stay here because Snow Frostflame has passed away. My condolences to the rest of Team Lotus and Snow's friends and family." @Arid_Blitz He took off the cloak that he had on and took out his Sonic Pole, extending it a little and assumed a battle stance. "I'm ready as well and have no problems fighting with obstacles." he said to Topaz. There was no emotion in his words. He was a mercenary, after all.

@Arid_Blitz @Dynamo Pad @dragon4111 @reader8363 Copper grunted, then said to Dynamo, "I'm next." Then he slowly made his way onto the arena. He took one look at the portion of the crowd that was for some reason cheering against team Lotus, and the entire crowd would hear a massive crack of lightning, silencing that portion entirely.

Agony, thy name is Brandon Belt.

Copper was now distracted by the crowd, the fans ordering Virdi to get back up. Why are they acting like this? What happened to cause this kind of mentality? @Dynamo Pad @Literally Snails He went to Dynamo, a bit fuming and asked, "What the hell did this team do to get boo'd by every creature here?" Clearly he was pissed off by this fact and some of the fans nearest could hear him by how loud he was, mostly because of how loud the booing was.

@Dynamo Pad @Literally Snails @dragon4111 @Arid_Blitz As Copper looked back at the fight, he was able to listen to the conversations between Canteen, Dynamo and Shining. He grunted a little, seeing his best friend and Canteen becoming friends, though honestly it was to be expected. He did help Dynamo socialize a bit more along with his Sensei from years back. As the fight continued, Copper seemed to see it being obvious that Snow was going to lose. "Looks like I'm gonna have an extended stay here," he said to no one in particular, but it was loud enough for Dynamo and Canteen to hear.

@Literally Snails @Dynamo Pad @Arid_Blitz @reader8363 @dragon4111 Copper watched with some intent as the fight started, almost as if he was reading both ponies' movements. He grumbled a bit, seeing that Snow almost got knocked out of the ring, but that was to be expected. Then he looked away for a few moments, noticing some magic power-up. What was causing it? And who had that increase? He could tell the pony who did it was nowhere near the stadium, so he didn't have to worry about a possible attacker, but the fact that he could feel a massive magical power-up was concerning to him.

@Literally Snails @Dynamo Pad @reader8363 @dragon4111 @Arid_Blitz Copper watched with a bit of interest as Snow and Arid came up first, an audible grunt coming out of him. This wasn't anything new to him, as he had went to a couple fighting tournaments before becoming a mercenary. However, he had a feeling somepony was gonna die in this first match. He hoped it wasn't Snow, but if it was, then it looked like he was going to have an extended stay here. But that was fine since he had a reunion with Dynamo. As the announcer signaled for the match to begin, he sat down and watched.

@Arid_Blitz @reader8363 @Literally Snails @dragon4111 As Copper watched Dynamo and Arid agree on how the match would play out, he took another look around the stadium. He didn't know anything about playing or fighting in front of a large crowd like this, but he knew from what he was told by somepony who paid him long ago that he shouldn't be intimidated by such. He was told that pretending the crowd wasn't there would be able to make for a better performance or result than acknowledging the distraction. "Hmph," he said to himself as he waited for Dynamo, Arid, and Topaz to finish. He had a strong feeling that Defiant would want to take him on, which was fine for him.

@Dynamo Pad Copper closed his eyes for a brief moment, then shot them open, causing a gust of wind to head directly towards Team Crimos. This was his way of saying that he wasn't going to talk to them right now, and that he had a job to do. Then he turned around and waited for Dynamo to show up.

@Literally Snails @Dynamo Pad @reader8363 @dragon4111 @Arid_Blitz The first pony to appear past the gate was Copper Strikes. He looked rather different from yesterday, like all of the happiness he had was thrown away. There was an air of uneasiness scattered throughout the stadium, though not as bad as Rokata's, as he casually walked up to where he was supposed to go. He was wearing his usual mercenary outfit, which was a dark blue cloak that had a hoodie, but the hoodie was down so that his face could be revealed. He also had his Sonic Pole strapped around his back, ready for action. As he made it to where he was supposed to, he looked at Topaz for a second before gazing around the stadium. The pony noticed the typical sold-out crowd, but wasn't really in the mood to show off. He did have a job he had to do after all. He had the same exact emotionless stare while looking around, then cricked his neck. Then he thought to himself as he waited. Killing. This was something he didn't ask Shining Armor about when he first came here. It looked as if he had no other choice but to kill, which was fine. He was a mercenary, so he was used to it.

@Arid_Blitz @Dynamo Pad Well that killed off the mood that he had. Copper looked disappointed at Defiant as he made the threat, and when he disappeared the Earth Pony shook his head. He wasn't really impressed with Defiant's speed, either, mostly because he was disappointed to begin with. He sighed and looked at Canteen and Melio as he said, "As much as I would love to, I not only don't have my deck with me, but my mood was murdered by your friend. Tell him that I had no intention to kill off Arid and am only here to be an alternative for one fight. I'm going to bed, since I've already done enough training for today, on top of being tested by some silent Minotaur, as well." He got up from his seat and picked up his Sonic Pole. As he had spoke about his past with Dynamo, he had eaten most of his buffet and is currently comfortably full. He then trotted out of the building, grumbling a little to himself.

"Is it because you're a unicorn?" the young Copper asked the young Dynamo with a bit of a chuckle. It was a pretty easy joke for Copper to make, seeing that the unicorn is a spellcaster after all. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. What's your name, by the way? Mine's Copper Strikes."

-Present Day- "Wasn't the deck of cards that you used to play called Yu-Gi-Oh! or something like that?" Copper asked Dynamo. "I think that's what it was, because I remember that one of the cards that I picked up from the other stack was Silent Magician." -Flashback- The colt looked at Dynamo and set the deck of cards near the unicorn so that he could get them for himself. "I do play it a little," he said. "My parents and I play it from time to time. I usually play a Blue Eyes White Dragon deck."

As the explanation in the present day continued, the younger Copper Strikes looked surprised from seeing the deck of cards falling over the floor. Feeling bad, he helped the unicorn pick up the cards. "I have heard of it, and I did play a little bit. Pretty interesting play style the cards do. And I'm sorry that I startled you. I didn't mean to, I promise."

@Arid_Blitz Copper saw the sun starting to set in the distance, signalling the start of night time was upon them. He looked back at Dynamo with a smile, sat back on his chair, and said, "Freaking yikes. I remember us both being colts when we started training, and when my parents moved us to Fillydelphia for a few years, and I took it as an opportunity to learn how to defend myself...." ======== As he spoke about his past, we flashback to a younger Copper Strikes at the doorstep of Master Twinkle's dojo in Fillydelphia. The colt was rather excited to be able to defend himself, as well as learning how to act quickly. There was plenty of time to talk with other ponies, but one of them caught his interest. He saw a Unicorn playing with a deck of cards. He walked over to the pony and said, "Why hello there. What'cha playing?"

@Arid_Blitz @Dynamo Pad Copper watched with a smile as his new friends and rivals ate together. He knows he's a mercenary, but deep inside he had a soft spot for friendship like this. Even though they were in two competing teams that will be against each other in tomorrow's match, it was more of a blessing to become friendly rivals instead of bitter enemies. "Drink and be merry indeed," he chuckled as he took a sip of his sweet tea, rejecting the glasses of alcohol. "Don't drink too much, Melio and Defiant. I don't wanna face a hungover pony."

He laughed a little and gave Dynamo a nod. There was so much to catch up on, he just didn't know where to start it at all. "After this tournament we'll need to catch up and see what we remember from the time we had our lessons with Master Twinkle. I swear this couldn't have been a better day for us to reunite."

Copper couldn't help but chuckle as he too piled up his food from the buffet table. "She was keen on having fun as well. Always likes to makes jokes at some points in our time with her." He shook his head, thinking back to the good ol' days. "I remember you being so shy when we first met. Where did you get the courage to talk so much now?"

At the mention of one of his nicknames, Copper let out a whistle in surprise. THAT was something he hasn't heard in a long time. "Tip Toes, that was like two years ago when you called me that. I'm surprised you even remember that. You remember the name of our Shoman, though? I think it was Twinkle Berry, if I recall."

Copper took note of what Dynamo whispered to him. Whatever it was, it might help them succeed in the fight that they'll have. He nodded at his old friend, then brought a hoof over his shoulder. "C'mon. Let's grab a bit to eat. I'm starving. After that we'll get to training." He walked over to the nearest buffet, all smiles and the occasional chuckle from funny stuff he remembered with his old friend.

The Earth Pony couldn't help but have a laugh. The opposing team inviting Dynamo out for dinner? That's something he rarely saw in his days. Regardless, he nodded and said, "Sure, why not? I'm down to grab a bite at the nearest buffet." He doesn't sound like a mercenary, but that was because it was his old friend, and he didn't want to act all doom and gloom.

@Dynamo Pad @Arid_Blitz Copper was headed to one of the buffet areas himself before he spotted Dynamo and the other two members of Team Crimos. He was surprised by them being together, and didn't know how they came together. Shoving that thought away, he trotted over to them with a big smile. "Hey, Dynamo!" he cheered happily to his old friend, then pointed at the one who gave chase to him. "Lemme guess, you offered to be the one buying his dinner for stealing his notebook?"

@Dynamo Pad @Arid_Blitz There were a few cracks similar to thunder as Copper continued training in the small area he was in. He had weights on his pole for him to be able to increase the speed of his attacks, and as he remembered from his Karate days, speed generated power. He learned to figuratively pop his hips while he punched for the extra "oomph," he knew how to focus his attacks on certain parts of the body, which helped tremendously during his time as a mercenary, and he learned how to control the power of his attacks to where he had amazing speed, but it would only feel like a light tap for his partner/opposition. After a while, he took a break from his training and re-sheathed his pole. He felt hungry at this point. He decided to join Dynamo for dinner if his old friend wanted to. But first he had to find him. He trotted in the direction that he had run off to in order to find Dynamo.