the Mini-Crusher-Tournie - Prologue. Prologue

The strategy room was centred around a long mahogany table. The two elementals were the same yet opposite: both tall, clutching staffs topped by crystals and dressed in simple robes, and yet one appeared young with untidy hair and wearing white, while the other wore black with his hood concealing most of his wrinkled face. The dark elemental hunched over the long table, over his stack of folders. Very important folders that were numbered one through eight. The younger elemental stood straight as he studied his master apprehensively.

"I appreciate you agreeing to stay out of this competition, Zac." The dark elemental began.

"That's alright, Chris." The white elemental smiled. "I know how important your competitions with Blake are."

"Me and Blake have had our Crushers compete since before you were born." Chris continued. "This particular tournament is sure to bring out a powerful new batch of Crushers. It's different to the willy-nilly tournaments we have every now and again… this one has the potential to reveal the next generation of strong Crushers."

"…you think?"

"Absolutely." Chris ordered his stack of folders. "As you know, I have developed and created eight new artificial humans with superpowers. So has Blake. In total there are sixteen of these youths. The competition will have them all paired off randomly in fighting matches until only one remains."

"I see."

"And the winner must be one of my Crushers. Not Blake's." Chris muttered darkly.

At that moment the door swung open and revealed Blake's merry laughter. The newcomer was also old, he had a long white beard and clutched a similar staff, but was dressed in white. He strode over with his own stack of folders under an arm.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Chris." He stated and dropped his folder on the other side of the table. "But no Godrid wanker is going to win this competition."

Zac looked exasperated while the sound of Chris's teeth grinding together was audible.

"No Zorgon loser is going to win, that's for sure!" He snarled, pointing a taloned finger.

"Time will tell." Blake responded. "Shall we get into the rules for this tournament?"

"Fine." Chris sighed and suppressed his temper. He straightened. "Alright. Zac, you will only be a witness for this tournament and have agreed to put in no Crushers of your own. With sixteen contenders there are four rounds: the initial round, the tertiary round, the semi-finals and the finals. We have agreed on the numbers for each of our Crushers based on an agreement we made about powers."

"You guys made an agreement about what powers to use?" Zac looked between them.

"Sort of." Blake answered, stroking his beard. "We agreed that of our eight Crushers, half of them were allowed to be from clans we'd already created, and the other half had to be new and experimental Crushers."

"Does that mean…?" Zac's eyes widened in wonder. "Did you create Crushers from the famous three Zorgon clans? The Sprout clan that Vine came from… the Zorgon-Flame-users like John and Bionca… and the legendary Finn clan that Aqua and Tsuca came from?"

"I may have this tournament in the bag," Blake answered smugly. "But there is something more important than winning. And that is creating a new generation of strong Crushers. For that I've pulled out all the stops."

"Wow…" Zac mouthed. Those amazing Crushers had grown up with Zac when he was a kid – he'd seen their power firsthand.

"There are some strong Godrid clans too, Zac…" Chris mumbled a little bitterly.

"Oh pish-posh." Blake fluttered a hand. "Anyhoo, much of the strength and powers of our Crushers will be a secret up until their fight. But the trick with the numbers is this: one to four are Crushers from my Zorgon clans, five to eight are Crushers from Chris's Godrid clans, nine to twelve are my experimental Crushers while thirteen to sixteen are Chris's experiments."

"Since I'm not in this tournament, can I just look at all of the folders?" Zac tilted his head.

"Please, Zac." Blake raised his chin pompously. "You're about as impartial as a parent-referee at their kid's soccer game."

"You won't have to wait long, Zac." Chris turned his head. "The Mini-Character-Tournie is set to begin today!"

"…that's what you decided to name it? I know you guys have tournaments often but I didn't think you'd creatively bankrupt yourselves already. Just start numbering them."

"It's a fine name for a fine tournament." Blake stepped over to the wall and flicked a switch.

The long panel flickered to life and then the three of them were staring down into an enormous white cube-room. At the bottom was a grassy perimeter with a few trees. Zac's eyes narrowed, that must be where the initial round for the tournament will be. On the opposite wall was a huge screen that would randomly select the matches.

"Sixteen contenders…" Zac mused to himself. "This first round is gonna have eight battles."

"The initial round is a simple one-versus-one smackdown! So, without further ado let us begin!" Chris splayed his hands on the table. "Me and Blake will gather our teenagers and lead them into that arena to begin the Mini-Character-Tournie!" His trademark evil smirk flashed across his wrinkled face. "Let the fun begin…"