The spotlight hit the host as she stood forward.

"We are back at the Redemption Round. I, your host, reeled in one of the challengers from the Melee Division. Liked by some, hated by others, keep your hands together for the Hue-Man fisherman, Herring Ja." After she mentioned his name, some of the spectators booed while they saw Herring step forward into the platform.

He blatantly ignored them as he walked into the center of the platform, fists on his hips. "Who is gonna be my opponent?" Herring hollered before the booing became louder.

"Looks like everyone wants to fight the fisherman." The host announced, "Only one will come forward to fight the fisherman head on!" The spotlight lit up to show that Herring was the only one stood alone on the platform.

"And who will that be?" Herring asked the host before she turned to look at him and smirked.

"Oh, he's one who you're quite familiar with." The host said before the lights turned off, within the darkness, a flame lit up just as the fighter came forward. Herring's smirk faded when he saw that his opponent... was Piros.

The combatants glared at each other as they stepped closer towards one another. The flame evaporated to smoke before the lights were on again.

Some of the spectators had a malicious grin, others were rooting for Piros. The red haired opponent came forward, shirtless. Amber eyes on his opponent while Herring took a defensive stance.

Piros was about to leave the stadium when the host called him. "Piros." The red-haired fisherman turned around to see the host walking up to him. "I'm sorry that you had to go through this. Rest assured, the one responsible is already fired." The host rolled her sleeves to prove her point.

"No," Piros started as he looked at the host as he faced her, her thick eyebrows slightly climbed at his reaction. "Herring was the one who deceived me. Don't cast the blame on one of your workers. I'm well served to know that Herring got defeated in the arena beforehand."

"If there is anything that you need, all you have to do is ask." The host suggested as she headed to her office before he saw Herring enter there. He wanted nothing to do with him.

"The Piros I know wouldn't have stayed in the dark for long. He would've gone out and got back up to take his stance and fight! What happened? Who quenched your fire?" Herring's word stirred up inside him and he clenched his fists angrily.

Piros trekked towards the host's office, but Herring exited before the red haired fisherman came close to the office. Piros peered into the office and saw the host seated. "Are you here for the Redemption Round?" His puzzled expression discarded her inquiry. "Guess not." Piros heard a whirring noise coming from the printer. The host pulled the flyer from the paper.

"What does it say?" Piros inquired.

"Oh, this? I'm looking for volunteers to fight in the Redemption Round against the contestants. If you're interested, I could fill you in to fight any of the contestants. Is there anyone you have in mind?" The host asked him before Piros's eyebrows furrowed as he thought how Herring deceived him.

"There is." Piros stated.

Piros turned the left heel of his waraji sandals to the side as he positioned himself into a defensive stance.

"Aqua." Brandon uttered.

Water poured out as the platform shifted, the steps of the platform flooded as the railing was closed. The ground where the fighters stood was dry, akin to a lilypad that floated over a massive pond though most of the audience only views one of them as the toad.

Who needs enemies when a traitor is standing right in front of you?

Herring glared at him before he charged.

What happened to you? You were the torch that kept fire going. Who quenched your fire?

Piros remained firm until he blocked the punch Herring gave him.

Herring threw another punch before Piros blocked him then kicked him, the dark haired fighter blocked the kick. The audience kept their eyes on the fight as they watched them repeatedly block their attacks. Neither of them refused to give an opening for the other to strike since they were familiar with their opponent's techniques.

Herring threw another punch before Piros grabbed his opponent by the wrist, then Herring tried to give a roundhouse kick and ended up losing his ground as Piros tripped his pivoted leg and pinned him to the ground, stepping on Herring's free arm.

Herring gritted his teeth as he felt the pressure as Piros shifted his weight against Herring's right arm. His curly red hair shielded his eyes from the spotlight as he saw Piros's amber irises teeming with ire. The same ire he felt when he compared him to the traitor. "Yield!" Piros demanded as he was eye level with him.

"Never." Herring barked before Piros kneed Herring on the stomach. They all heard the raven haired contender yell in pain as he felt Piros drop on him. It was one thing to get kneed on the stomach, but to get kneed while someone dropped its weight on you was even worse. Herring put his free hand unto his stomach as he sat up before receiving a kick to the jaw. Sardin scrunched his face while some strangers whistled implying that they wanted to see blood.

Herring spat a string of blood. Piros looked down at him, and then kicked him again.

"You knew what happened the last time we joined to fight in a tournament. We almost died Herring! DID YOU FORGET THAT!?"

Herring looked at the ground before he got up again.

"No, I haven't. I haven't forgotten what happened that day. That's why I have the courage to keep on fighting!"

As he turned around, he reacted quickly to dodge the fire blast that came from Piros's fist. Fire came out of his knuckles and fingertips while Herring dodged though it didn't last long when Piros landed a hit on Herring's forearm. "Ow! Hot-hot-hot-hot," Herring dashed to the edge of the platform to scoop the water in one hand to dampen the burn. Piros charged after him with his fiery fist and Herring scooped up the water to throw it at Piros's face.

Piros dodged despite the splotches of water landed on his face while Herring took advantage to jump on him, putting him on a headlock with a partially blistered forearm. Herring gritted his teeth while he pulled the inside of Piros's cheek using three of fingers, his right index finger clawing the bottom of Piros's right eyelid. The red haired opponent looked at his right as he felt the pull that made some of the viewers wince just by looking at it.

"Yield!" Herring yelled.

"No!" Piros protested as he took a step forward inches away from the platform. He held unto Herring's wrist and boiled it by the palm of his hands.

Herring screamed as he felt the searing pain concentrated on his wrist, despite letting go of Piros's face, his opponent refused to do so.

"That's gotta hurt." Haeji commented while she watched Herring elbow Piros by the shoulder as he tried to break away from his opponent's boiling vice grip.

"Piros still hasn't healed from that incident. If I hadn't casted the net where I found him. He wouldn't be among us today." Sardin mentioned as he remembered how he found him. He rowed by the bridge and found the right spot for fishing, he extended the net and threw it by the left side of his canoe. As the net descended to the bottom, the fibers of the net landed on Piros's body while he was at the bottom around his head and torso. "I must've caught a big one." Sardin pulled the net and hefted Piros's body out of the water and into the canoe. His cold body was drenched in salt water, Piros body was submerged for nearly 12 minutes. Sardin checked on Piros, opening his eyelids, nostrils, and mouth. Then he slammed his fists on Piros's sternum and midsection with brute force which made him wake up as he spewed out the salt water while he was shivering from the cold. "I had to clean my canoe from the stench. At least the fish oil masked the odor of the vomit." Sardin added, Haeji scrunched up her nose at the mention of fish oil.

"Let go!" Herring yelled as he pulled his adversary's curly auburn locks.

Gladly. Piros let go of Herring's wrist.

Herring jumped out of the way in a backflip before Piros charged to strike at him, his fists shrouded in flames. The raven haired fighter dodged the first three punches, then kicked Piros by the jaw, then kicked the back of Piros's ankles to knock him off balance as the ruddy opponent fell on his back.

Herring looked down at Piros, his dark hair blocking out the spotlight from his eyes.

I'm not afraid to stand up and keep on fighting again, even when Urdinak broke my bones and nearly killed me, I was determined to stand up against all odds. What happened to you? You were fearless, light, you were the torch that kept fire going. The Piros I know wouldn't have stayed in the dark for long. He would've gone out and got back up to take his stance and fight! What happened? Who quenched your fire?

Piros stood back up quickly before he blocked a punch from Herring, then he kicked but missed, another kick was matched by the other. Then Piros took a stance, standing one leg with his knee high up. Herring took the opening to kick his exposed leg to a sweeping motion to knock his leg out from under him. However, Piros expected this and took another defensive stance, his opponent threw punches though he quickly came to the conclusion that Piros was doing the ceremonial fire dance, channeling his energy to strengthen his attack and if that were the case, he had to stop him.

Two or three female on lookers were ogling at Piros, one of them was Maori. The curly brunette bit her bottom lip as she stared at Piros, her eyes dilated as she watched him move with finesse.

Herring gave a high kick, Piros countered, smacking his ankle away with a swing of his fist as his arms turned alight. The raven haired opponent was getting exhausted, as he watched Piros make a last stance, ready to launch a flame. Herring ran as fast as he could as the fire came out of his opponent's palm akin to a flamethrower.

The viewers were waiting for Herring to get roasted and crispy while the fisherman ran to the edge of the platform to wash his face to get hydrated. The flame went further and further to reach him and missed by an inch. Herring threw a splash of water against the fire, which was a huge mistake.

The flame spread as Piros inched closer, stepping on the flame as the smoke billowed. Herring waved off the fire as Piros saw Herring cough, as the raven haired fighter felt the fatigue.

Herring had two options: get immolated by Piros or jump out off the platform and into the water.

"Stop! You are going to kill him!" Sardin shouted. "Don't become like Urdinak!"

"Shut it, old man!" One of the spectators hollered.

"Yeah! We're trying to watch the show!" Another spectator shouted.

Haeji glared at two ruffians that were sitting there, one of them was eating popcorn and a cherry cola while another had a bag of cod fish fritters and a soda. The korean contestant flipped the bird at both of them.

Piros glared as Herring coughed at the billowing smoke. "YOU DON'T GET IT!? I drowned! I almost died, Herring! Urdinak knocked you out cold, he drowned me using his hydromancy against me. I felt the air leave my body while I sank like an anchor. I don't want to fight anymore!" Piros yelled, eyes red and glossy, holding in the urge to cry. "You have no idea how it feels like. I felt my life slip away, every passing second felt like an eternity when I plummeted into the abyss. Not knowing if I will survive or breathe again." Herring wheezed.

Piros heard a shout amidst the coughing and flickering flickering of the fire. "Stop! You are going to kill him! Don't become like Urdinak!"

Don't become like Urdinak! Piros froze as he recalled the damage Urdinak did to him and Herring in snippets. Urdinak beated Herring to a pulp, broke Herring's pivoted femur, dislocated his right shoulder and knocked the wind out of him as he remembered the sickening crunch as the ribs got cracked in one swift motion as Herring coughed up globules of blood. Urdinak elbowed him in the gut, then dislocated his jaw with one punch before Herring fell to the floor unconscious. When Piros ran out to stop him, Urdinak controlled the waves and shrouded himself with a watery shield before he raised the waves from the bridge to encase his head and upper body with water and tossed Piros overboard for him to drown under the bridge. Piros sank into the bottom as he felt the air from his lungs escape him as the bubble rose to the surface as he plumetted to the abyss and it all went black.

And Piros was about to do the same to Herring with his fire.

The sound of a splash snapped him out of his reverie. "And we have a winner!" The host announced as the crowd cheered. Piros was more concerned about Herring as he hadn't seen him rise out of the water yet. "Piros!" As the spotlight was about to hit him, Piros ran into the water and dived in. The splash got recorded as the camera panned back to the host as she displayed a confused expression.

Piros swimmed as he found Herring hovering down to the bottom. He grabbed the collar of Herring's tunic as he swam to the surface just as Brandon gave the command for the gauntlet to revert to its default setting. Sardin ran to the platform, holding on to his straw hat. Piros pulled Herring's unconscious body for Sardin to check, two paramedics put him on a stretcher but before they could raise the stretcher. Sardin intervened by opening Herring's eyelids and mouth, the old fisherman interlocked his fingers as he raised his arms high and slammed them against Herring's midsection with brute force.

Herring came to as he felt nauseous as he walked a couple of steps before he doubled over to spew the water he ingested, an unpleasant sight, though it didn't prevent the bystanders from recording the whole thing. The two spectators that silenced Sardin earlier sniggered at Herring while they were recording with their smartphones.

Haeji walked in and knocked one of their smartphones to the ground and gave the middle finger to the other individual that was recording with his mobile. "Sardin!" Haeji hollered, "Can you come here and do the same to these morons?" The older fisherman came over while one of the ruffians crouched down to pick up his smartphone while the other signaled him to leave.

Herring wiped the corner of his mouth and held his midsection after he finished. "Dammit Sardin."

"It was the only thing I could do to revive you." Sardin blurted on his defense.

"Couldn't you have done something else?" Herring hissed as he barred his teeth from the pain.

"It worked for Piros." Sardin shrugged.

Piros came forward as he looked at Herring, his anger replaced with remorse. Haeji then looked at Herring's right wrist and noticed the 1st degree burns.

"Fishbait, do you want some boba?" Haeji offered. As Herring broke eye contact with Piros as he stopped glaring at him to look at her.

"Nah, I still feel queasy." Herring replied as he grabbed her hand. Haeji's eyes darted from his hand to his face.

"Herring." Piros spoke, Herring paused for a brief second.

"I'll be fine." Herring replied without looking at him, "It's over now."

Piros watched his friend walk away. Haeji looked at Herring scowling and then back at Piros as they walked out of the gauntlet.

Sardin put a hand on Piros's shoulder as the auburn haired fisherman looked at him. "Don't worry, he'll come around." Sardin gave a comforting smile. Piros was still saddened by the way Herring looked at him. He got what he wanted, he defeated Herring at his own game. Yet there was no victory.

The caretakers brought out the fire extinguishers and quenched the remnant of the fire. The camera returned to focus on the host. "Next up is Hwa Hae Ji versus Ratu. We'll be right back after the commercial break." Erica cut the recording to fill in the time frame with an advertisement.

"Wait...I'm next?" Haeji asked herself.

"Obviously, now let's go get that boba you love so much." Herring insisted before Haeji ran with him to get the bubbly delight of her favorite drink.

Ratu hollered, "Herring's got a girlfriend!"

It was only a couple of hours ago that Herring was teasing him for falling for a girl.

"No!" Piros shouted before he walked away and Herring took the opportunity to jump on him and held on like a child taking a piggy back ride. The young fisherman interlocked his ankles around Piros's torso.

"Tell me who the girl is! Tell me tell me tell me." Herring said out loud.

"STOP! YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME!!!" Piros berated him.

"PIROS FOUND A LITTLE LOVE BIRD AND HE'S CUCKOO IN LOVE WITH THAT GIRL!" Herring sang at the top of his lungs.

"Will you stop!?" Piros face turned red, both in anger and embarrassment.

"AT LONG LAST MY BEST FRIEND HAS FOUND LOVE, A BEAUTIFUL GIRLFRIEND SENT FROM ABOVE!" Herring sang while Piros buried his face in his hands.

Now Herring was using a girl to avoid each other.