The Ranch

Tih: The Mascot, The Leader (1)

As expected, Basile wins, making that two wins for Poseidon and one for Gladiators. On their way back to the balcony, Henri shakes Kane's hand," Better luck next time." He says with a polite smile. The connotation is not polite.

Kane gives a lazy smirk after letting his arm be shaken," Yep. Good luck with the finals." He backs down first. He's never been one to pick fights. Too much drama.

The Tih's Poseidon and Kane's Gladiators stand on the balcony to watch the other two teams battle it out. As expected, the team whose members had to sit out for treatment from the lava lost. They had the largest disadvantage coming to the round. The second being the team of newbies. But unlike dark horse Poseidon, Team What Was It Called Again? did not create an upset.

The two losing teams were escorted out of the balcony after saying a few parting words on camera.

"Bye kid. Oh, and good luck." Instructor Kane makes a finger gun and points it at Tih. Tih copies him.

Kane smirks, he lifts his fingers," Bang!"

Tih lifts his fingers silently.

"See you later kid." He walks off. Looking at his depressed disciples, he sighs. He sees a lot of work in his future. He pats two backs before swinging his arms around their necks and leaving through the colosseum.

The guest judges are also thanked and seen off by Simon D. Afterward, he moves on to the commentators who were previously overshadowed by the guest judges.

"Private Scott, Jax. Did you enjoy the teams' performances?" He brings them back into the spotlight.

"Yes, there were some very surprising performances."

"Especially in the first round." Already used to his lack of respect, Major Jax ignores Simon D's lack of title.

Private Scott fake coughs. He tries to hint at Jax by looking back and forth between him and the winners from the second round, Jörmungandr.

The heat from the first game had not dissipated when the second team started. People were replaying it in their heads, or recorded it and played it back.

The second round was somewhat disregarded due to this, and Scott believes they may be feeling ignored. The cause of this is Tih's team, so Scott wants to prevent any more ire going their way.

Major Jax doesn't seem to pick up on the hint," The oldest one on Tih's team, what's his face," he snaps, attempting to remember only to give up a second later," he was pretty good. The other one too. The vampire."

...vampire. Basile touches his white hair. Are vampires white-haired? He can't argue with the rest. Red eyes, pale skin, hits the mark.

Private Scott jabs him in the side. He's read up on the subject and knows the commentators shouldn't be biased towards one player. They've advertised Tih enough as it is. "The other game was also quite entertaining, especially the last round. The man from Team Jörmungandr's side was very impressive."

A camera zooms in on the man in question. Simon D asks," Excuse me, but would you like to tell the audience your name and a short introduction?"

The man has a straight face but he doesn't seem to be in the best of moods. A teammate speaks up with annoyance in his tone," This man is our Captain, Instructor Rohan. Red star in Systema. A mature and calm man in the face of troubles."

The teammate gets more and more enthusiastic as he continues. It's like a dating app profile. Next he's going to say he likes long walks on the beach.

"Captain has a preference for training on the beach. He likes grilled peaches and is age thirt-" Rohan calmly places a hand on the teammate's shoulder, to prevent him from going any further.

This is a common occurrence. His members speak up before he gets a chance and starts prattling off about him. He's always the one to halt his team's boasts, lest they annoy whomever they're talking to.

"Nice to meet you, you can just call me Rohan." He nods.

From a surface glance, he's six points similar to the man Tih met at the train station, but lacking that depth of coldness. Meeting eyes with the man at the station felt like floating at the depths of the freezing water in the Antarctic.

"Oooh, a modest one! That's rare. Would you like to introduce your other members?" This is sort of a prize for reaching top two, as recognition is worth its weight in gold. They went through the members before the camera pans over to the other team.

"Team Poseidon. You have been quite...attention-grabbing. Would you care to introduce yourselves?"

Following that, they go through each member. Kai becomes somewhat of a spokesperson for the less talkative members.

"And your captain is...Henri?" Simon D looks among the group with an average age of a preteen. He goes with the safe guess and guesses the oldest looking one.

Sherlock and Theodore choke back a chuckle. Kai glares at the announcer. Henri coughs," That would be Tih." He gestures with his hand. The camera follows the direction to land on an eerie boy that looks no older than ten. It's a familiar face.

"The camera grabber?" Someone in the audience speaks aloud. This person happened to be near an opened microphone.

Simon D glances at the audience member before turning back to face the child," It's quite a feat to have such a young team leader make it this far. It might even be the first in the history of this tournament." He waits for a verse of gratitude.

"Ah, excuse us, our leader is mute." Victor quickly announces before their impression worsens.

"I see, then that's even more amazing. Now that the two teams have been introduced, let's get ready for the finale. The name will be announced, but this time, you'll be given five minutes to discuss aloud and make your decision. The audience can also interfere, if they have a preference. The other team can also interfere verbally. Got it?" Simon D smiles.