Tiffany: (thinking: This could be it. To think... I was about to count Ken out.)

Julianne, meanwhile, was struggling to bottle up the urge to yell her son's name in support.

And back at the battlefield...

Max: Mmmmm....

Ken: You know you can just surrender. Right, Max?

Max: Mmmmm...

Ken: After all, there's no need for me to hit you with these.

And that was it. Just moments before, he'd teased Ken. And now... he was the one on the receiving end.

Max: Hey!

Ken: Hmm?

Max: I ain't quitin' y'hear.

Ken: Hmm? Really?

Max: Yeah...

Max's shakily got himself up, slipping and falling once more.

Ken: But, you can't even move....

Max: Yeah... so?!

Ken: Hmm?

Max: I said I'm not quitting! Hmph!

He pulled himself up once more.

Back with those watching...

Julianne: (thinking: My boy...)

And to the battle....

Ken: So... you'd rather get hit?

Max: Hmph!

Max looked back at Ken with an incredibly certain gaze. He was serious.

Meanwhile, Julianne Hunter put her hand on her mouth. An act which Tiffany noticed.

And also, one that somewhat terrified the teenage girl.

It had just occured to her that that was the first time during the battle at which Max was on the losing end and had been in danger of getting hurt.

As a result, it was reasonable to assume that she would be quite upset.

And given her memories of Julianne Hunter's actions that Monday night, it was hard not to get worried.

However, to her relief, Julianne said nothing, and showed no signs of starting a fight.

As for Max and Ken....

Max shakily pulled himself up and started struggling to keep his balance, spreading his arms out wide.

Ken: Alright then... (thinking: This guy....)

To Ken, Max was simply wasting time. But he could not deny this. Max had guts. Taking a hit just because he believed in his own power. Just because he refused to give up. That wasn't something even the logical Ken could fail to respect.

He sighed. To Ken, this fight was as good as done.

Ken: Alright, I'll be extra gentle. (thinking: He can't even fire bolts while trying to balance with his two hands spread out like that.)

Max continued in this odd awkward stance, waving his hands aggressively to keep himself from falling.

Ken poised himself to strike

Back with the others, Julianne prepared herself to close her eyes.

Tiffany herself, debated ending the match there and then. On the one hand, Max seemed to be cornered. On the other hand, Max didn't want to give in. And, of course, Max hadn't taken enough damage for her to be concerned with him.

But, out of respect for Max, she decided to let Max simply do as he pleased.

Ken: No hard feelings, right Max?

Max: Grrr......

An interesting thing had begun to happen with Max. An odd memory that came to his head.

Now, Max had never ice skated before. Not once in his life had he ever done that.

However, like with all things, it was connected to other things. And in this case, to something he was used to. In fact, it was something he was exceptional at.

This wasn't something he figured out immediately. In fact, he'd completely forgotten that hed learnt this lesson a long time ago.

And so, with a strange sense of déjà-vu, what was a completely unfamiliar situation quickly became something so plainly familiar.

Something he knew all too well.

The answer?

Skateboarding.

Memories of himself trying to find balance the first time he'd used a board.

He had painful memories of falling on his face several times and at times several embarassing ways.

In a sense, his falling down and struggling to get up reminded him of his early skateboarding days.

How many times did he fail? How many times did he rage quit at the skateboard before grabbing it again and trying once more?

How long did it take him to master it?

Who knew?

Only he did.

And as he continued to balance himself with his arms, the feeling of slipping on ice, slowly became more and more like the feeling of balancing on a skateboard.

The feeling wasn't exact, but the little he felt was enough.

The connection he had to skateboarding slowly made the cloud standing in front of him disappear.

What seemed impossible slowly became possible. What seemed foreign slowly became familiar.

And so... his hands stopped shaking as quickly.

In fact, they slowed down so considerably that they'd almost stopped shaking.

And it was at that point, that Ken fired his laser.

But Max, having found his balance, was able to dodge, shocking not only Ken, but also all those watching the bout.

Rose: No way.

Luke: Hmm?

Tiffany: What?!

Julianne: (thinking: Max?)

It wasn't a very sophisticated dodge. It was, in fact, a rather clumsly one.

But the real shocker wasn't because Max dodged. That could have just as easily been Max almost slipping again.

The real shocker... that Ken missed.

Rose: Did he... just....!?

She turned her eyes to Tiffany and Luke who had their eyes glued to the fight as well.

Both of them still asking themselves... How did Max dodge?

As for Ken...

He calmly fired yet another laser, only for Max to dodge again, and then struggle for a second to regain his balance.

Ken: I see. So... that's how it is. Heh.... Should've figured.