Hamtaro Fan Fiction ❯ Love Battles on the Floor Again ❯ anything can happen in a title match ( Chapter 26 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

With championship won, Miri walked with Jam away from the floor. Will was still upset of his loss, though he was all smiles. I guess that shows you that crying won't turn back the hands of time. "Hey, Will, you okay man?" asked Rage.
"I wanna cry, but it's not worth it." Will answered. "Besides, silver is more precious than gold anyway." then he left the floor.
Rage continued as Emi took to his side. "Now, will Dexter and Pashmina step forward...." Dex and Pash step up to the team champs. "normally in cases like this, there would be one of the other teams that tied in the previous branch going against you, but since this is a first, and I do mean it's a first, your tournament is over."
"Did you hear that Dexter, our tournament is over." Pashmina said happily."
Dexter just kept a straight face. I don't buy it. he thought.
"Sorry to rain in on your parade Pashmina, but I'm not done yet." Rage continued.
"Sorry, excited." said Pashmina.
"Glad to hear it, because you two will be facing me and Emi for the title."
"Say what?!"
Jam, you really are a wise ham. Dexter thought.
 
"Now since there's only one machine, each of us will have the tag option. Between songs, each side can choose to hit the next song or switch to let his or her partner to take the next song. Keep in mind as you just saw, this is a 'Perfect Game' instead of the usual grading scale that you're used to."
"So, who goes first?" asked Pashmina.
"That all depends on you and your partner, Pashmina."
"Well, I guess that's all on you then."
"What about mods?" Dexter asked.
"We'll set the mods accordingly." Emi answered.
"Well before you start, I have a mod that's needs setting. It must be put in before the start of the game or it's no good."
"Well then, by all means...." said Rage.
 
Dexter stepped onto the floor and inputs the mod on both sides, then stepped off the floor. "If you don't mind my asking, what mod did you just put in?" questioned Rage.
"Something I learned last night." Dexter answered. "The mod of course is one I've never seen, but it was deemed, 'For experts only, this is the greatest challenge.' Rage. I thought I'd break it in against you and Emi today."
"You mean, you never used it before?" asked Pashmina.
"Nope, it's new to me." Dexter stepped a bit close to his partner. "Now... I will lend you my faith and trust if you do the same, okay?"
"You've never let me down before and I'm certain you won't now." Pashmina told him. I don't know what Dexter put in, but I guess I'll find out soon.
"I'll lead from our team."
"And I'll take you on." said Rage. "Start the game, Emi."
"Gotcha." said Emi and she did as instructed.
 
Rage and Dexter stood on their sides and when the selection came up, it was spinning, rather quickly mind you. Well Jam, let's see if your theory proves true. Dexter starts to reflect on a chat he had with Jam last night.
 
====================================================
Dexter and Jam were sitting at the table of the Clubhouse, taking a break from the machine. "Jam, tell me something." said Dexter.
'Shoot." said Jam.
"Are there more to the steps than what we see?"
"Evhance your question."
"You've told me about normal steps, half-beat steps, rapid steps, blitzes and the like, but what other perils do the steps give that they don't show?"
"Well Dex, there's one specific mod that-"
"Tell me, I want to know it."
"Are you sure, Dex? This mod isn't for the weak at foot?"
"Jam, Pashmina and I are the only team left in the doubles tournament. I think we--No, I know we can handle it."
"Fine, you've proven your worth and point. This on mod is the modifier of experts, even I haven't tried this mod yet, so I don't know what to expect.
"Tell me the code, Jam."
"Of course, but understand that this is only for the worthy of the floor."
Jam took to Dexter's ear, removed his visor and placed it on Dexter. Then with two taps of his left foot, the mod went right before his eyes. "Need to see it again?" Jam asked.
"Once more, please." Dexter responded.
Jam tapped his left foot twice again and the code showed before Dexter's eye. "One more time?"
"No, I got it."
"Good..." Jam reclaimed and donned his visor. "Move in the form of the code." Dexter did so. "Cool, well I'm off to catch some sleep. You might wanna get home and sleep as well."
"You're right, I don't want to be tired for tomorow."
"See ya."
"See ya."
Dexter headed for the door, but as his paw hit the handle.... "One last thing," Jam remembered, "that code must be entered before the start of the game. If not, it's voided."
"Cool, thanks again and until the morrow." And Dexter left the clubhouse.
====================================================
 
Back to the present time. "That's a bit fast for a roulette." said Rage.
"Champions pick the first song, I insist." said Dexter.
"You pick it Emi, I trust your judgement."
"Gotcha, Rage." said Emi as she chose a song.
The spinning started slowing down.... slower and slower and slower, then it stopped on the song Life of a Butterfly and the game began. Off the bat, vertical guages on each side of the screen were shown and filled up and next to them it said, "life guage". "Looks like we got a guage after all." said Emi.
"Looks like." added Pashmina.
The dance began and the guys started off. Normally, this is a somewhat slow song, but it's a good one. As Dexter and Rage stepped, the counts were even. "Now none of us should miss any of these steps." said Rage.
"Agreed," said Dexter, "but it happens though."
"That's true."
Hmm... Dexter thought. Maybe I was wrong about this difficulty.... I--Wait a minute, what is that?
 
And then a sequence of arrows came up with some circular notes to them. Dexter missed that step, but Rage hit it. And in doing so, the notes exploded and took some of Rage's life guage. "What the, that counted as a miss. Crud." said Rage.
I'm glad I chose to avoid that step. Thought Dexter.
 
I knew I smelled a rat, and he's still here. thought Kit-n-Kat.
 
"Man, talk about bad notes, that one just blew up." said Boss.
"Looks like the code Dexter put in has 'dummy steps' so to speak." said Oxnard.
"Jam, what did Rage just step on?" asked Roll.
"He stepped on a mine?" asked the other hams.
"Yeah, it was a mine."
"Mines, what'll they think of next?" asked Boss.
Interesting, this code put mines into play. thought Jam. I wonder what else this code has....
 
Even the Comets were amazed. "I didn't even know there were mines, did any of you guys know about that?" asked Trav.
"Believe me, if we knew, we'd have trained for them." said Yami.
"It seems that Dexter got a bit of help from some 'one' to pull this off." said Noah.
"I believe it." said Ice.
 
When the song came to a close, Rage ended up losing the first round due to the mines. "Well Emi, that's definitely new, isn't it?" asked Rage as he stepped off the floor.
"Yeah, I didn't know about exploding steps before now." said Emi as she took to the floor.
"You're the one behind this!" shouted Kit-n-Kat.
 
The hams turned to see Kit-n-Kat yelling at Jam. "Hey, calm down. Take a deep breath and-"
"Shut up!" Kit-n-Kat cut Jam off. "You knew about this all along. Now out with it already. What are those... things and why are they in there?"
"It's a part of the code." Jam answered.
"I should have your friends disqualified for your little stunt."
"I didn't do anything, now chill out already."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute now Kit." Rage said as the four battlers approached Kit-n-Kat and Jam. "Now what's going on here?"
"It's his fault, he set this up on you guys to give his friends an advantage over you. Dexter and Pashmina should be disqualified for this form of game fixing."
"I didn't fix anything." said Jam. "Don't get mad at me bacause your boy stepped on a mine in the stage."
"Okay, back for a minute," said Emi, "I think it's time you started explaining yourself....um.... you're name again?"
"Jam."
"Thanks. Anyway Jam, Kit has a point on this one.... We should disqualify your friends on this matter."
"Disqualified? That's not fair." said Pashmina.
"It may seem that way, but there's a lot of proof of this championship being compromised here." said Rage.
Jam simply shrugged. "But Rage, my partner put the code in, not Jam."
"Regardless of who put the code in, this match shows conclusive proof of being compromised on a count of foul play."
 
Dexter started laughing. "Hey Jam, do you smell something funny around here?" he asked his friend.
"Actually I do." Jam answered and dug into his pack. "Yeah, this chicken is no good, lemme go throw it away."
"Dude, that's gross. He eats other animals." said a disgusted Kit-n-Kat.
"That's not what I meant." Dexter began to clarify. "What I smell is cowardice. Momma always said that 'Cowards never smells clean.' and she was right."
"And just what are you trying to say?" Rage questioned Dexter to his face.
"It's not what I'm trying to say, it's what I am saying, and what is being said is that you're trying to take the coward's way out of losing your and your partners titles to me and Pashmina."
"Um, Dexter, not a wise thing to say to the champs." said Pashmina.
"Hmf, 'Some things maybe better left unsaid, but other things are better off heard.' Think about it Pashmina. Isn't it kind of odd that a worthy opponent, or in this case, some worthy opponents, enter a code against the champs which they don't like and now they wanna end the match on a count of a DQ?"
"Well, you can't really blame them for being upset."
"I can." Jam returns to the group and picks up where Dexter left off. "It's sad that a simple modifier scares the world champs into disqualifying someone that they challenged. What kind of champion DQs someone that they challenge?"
"Jam, you're making things worse." said Pashmina.
"No my dear, Jam's making since."
 
Noah walked over to the group and continued. "Rage and Emi could've just awarded you two as the winners of the doubles's tournament, but they instead challenge you to the title. Now sure, this modifier is new to us, even to myself, but that doesn't give you the right to just disqualiy someone because of one mistake you make." Pashmina was silent, deep in thought. "You're right Dexter, title holders can't just decide to end a match based on a modifier and call it cheating, that's just being a poor sport."
"Pashmina, let's just go." Dexter said taking his partner's paw. "If the title holders wanna call the match like this and call it cheating because of a mod, then it's not worth dancing to."
Pashmina finally understood. "Yeah, let's go."
"I can't believe how insulted I am. All this over a mod, some champs you guys are... and to think, this was such a nice day to dance too."
As Dexter and Pashmina left, The crowd started to boo. But not at them, no, this was towards Rage, Emi and Kit-n-Kat. "I guess it's over then." said Cappy.
"I guess so." said Maxwell and the hams started to leave.
"Man I though I was bad, but the champs are total jerks." said Sparkle.
"Yup, dignity smacked them across the face today." said Boss.
"They lost a lot of face in this tournament." said Jam.
"Wait 'til the press hears about this one." said Stan. "I hope the dancing committee hears about this and strips them of their titles."
"Well, looks like you and your crew get some face back after all, Noah." said Hamtaro.
"Looks like." said Noah.
"I can't believe ze day was wasted on a technicality...." Bijou trailed off.
"I wonder how many people will be at the next Floormaster's Ball after this stunt was pulled." said Howdy.
"That'll be a knee slapper of a question." said Pepper.
 
A lot of hams looked at Pepper oddly, including Oxnard. "Pepper, you really need to use better grammar while in the city. You can't use that Sooner's talk everywhere you go." said Maxwell.
"That's Oxnard's Pepper for you." Sandy said and shrugged.