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Standard disclaimer: Me no ownies.
AN: God, it has been a crappy two weeks. Long story short, my glasses broke; snapped right in two. I was able to get them replaced, though. My eye doctor rocks the house! Other stuff happened, but there’s too much to go into. Besides, you are here to read the story, not hear about my hectic life, eh?
Right, well… it seems like everything’s back on track. I hope. My mom and I just finished mowing the lawn. Crap I hate hills! I hate mowing uphill! My body’s gonna be sore tomorrow. Ugh, and I have to stand up and work all freaking day! Well, as my good friend tells me, quit complaining! LOL
Yup, you guessed it. This chapter marks the first part of the tournament of champions! Heh… any wrestler fans out there? Hope there are no Spirit Squad fans out there. lol DX rocks the freaking house!!!
Right, here’s the chapter.
Housework was not something Yui Uzuki enjoyed doing, but right now it seemed like it was the only thing that kept her mind off of what was currently going on. Yui clenched the handle of the duster a little tighter and proceeded to eradicate the dust bunnies that seemed to take up residence around Jin’s desk.
She wasn’t angry over the fact that she hadn’t heard from Jin in several days. Not at all. In fact, she had expected the change of events. She was almost relieved that Jin had gone. She didn’t have to worry too much about Miyuki that way.
She worried greatly about the pre-teen. Ever since Jin came back that night four years ago with a downright frightened eight-year-old Yuki, she had raised the girl like she was her own daughter. She didn’t really know Yuki that much before she came to live with them, but she knew that she was by herself most of the time.
She heard very little about Yuki’s mother from Jin. All she knew that was their mother, Sakura, was sick all the time and unable to properly take care of Yuki. Jin liked talking about his father even less. While Jin referred to Sakura as ‘Mother,’ he only referred to his father by his given name.
Part of the reason Jin left home so early was because of some sort of falling out with his father. Or something like that. Jin never did talk about it.
The night that Yuki had that nightmare about the dragons, Yui knew something bad would happen. She finally managed to get Jin to talk, and what he said scared her. The Kaiser had awakened and with that awakening, a new Cycle would begin.
Jin told her he would have to place himself in danger to protect them. Yui knew what Jin had to do, but that didn’t mean that she had to like it. She knew exactly what Jin meant when he called her at work a few days ago and told her he was going to be late for dinner.
Now, she was worried if he ever would come home…
Collosia, or the Battle City, is one of the Wyndian Region’s interesting places to visit. Originally known as Coursair, the city has always been a place to match one’s strength and prove one’s worth.
When the coliseum was built back during the Age of Heroes, men and woman from all over the world flocked there to compete against each other for the coveted title of Champion of Champions. When it was discovered that the tournament was merely a cover-up for a demon to kill people, the city’s name was changed to Genmel.
The tournaments continued to be the main attraction and the biggest source of income for the now massive city. Once again, however, it was discovered that those who were running the tournament were corrupt. Only this time, the corrupted villains were working for the mafia, and not some demon-god.
Needless to say, the Kingdom of Wyndia decided to change the city’s name once again to sever any ties it had may have had to any wrong doings and to save face with what support it had left.
Rumors to the sudden name change may or may not have had anything to do with Queen Nina de Wyndia III’s dislike for the city in general.
Collosia was decided for the new name and ever since then, the city has been associated with noble and honorable men and women who journey from near and far to prove their worth.
Interestingly enough, the tournaments are also used to defuse any friction between Regions who are having disagreements and want to settle them in the coliseum, instead of on the battle field.
Right now, however, things were less than peaceful…
“You stupid miserable bitch!” Yuki screamed. “I am going to kick your ass for what you are doing! HEY! Are you listening to me?!”
Salla massaged her temples as she glanced down. Nina, Sari, and Yuki were seated and tied up. Yuki had not stopped screaming for the past few hours. They were currently in one of the dressing rooms at the Coliseum of Champions, located in the Battle City of Collosia.
The dressing room was the one that Prince Demus was going to be using in a little while. The prince had gone undercover and disguised himself and even changed his alias so people would not know who he is. The events were, after all, televised all over the world. Apparently, people like to see other people beat the living crap out of others. Or something.
The dressing room was rather spacious and somewhat elegant. The room was white and had white marble floors. There was a large sofa against the wall and a dresser with a vanity mirror on the other end of the room. Several long lockers were on the other side of the room. The children were in the middle of the room.
There were two Dragoons on either side of the door that led to the main hallways. Another was stationed next to the door that led to the arena.
The door opened and another Dragoon walked in, pushing a disgruntled Ryu in front of him. Ryu’s hands were bound so he wouldn’t try anything.
Ryu looked up a Salla with almost pleading eyes. Salla clenched her hands into fists and looked away. Salla closed her eyes and had to fight the urge to untie Ryu right then and there.
“Salla!” Ryu shouted as he tried to jerk forward. The Dragoon held him back as Ryu continued to struggle.
“You will address me as Captain Treiba,” Salla said in a hollow voice, devoid of all emotion. She turned around and faced Ryu, her face neutral. “You are hereby under arrest on orders of his highness, Prince Demus Laurante of the Kingdom of Dragnier, of the Laurante Region. I suggest you remain silent.”
Ryu’s eyes flashed. “Those are false charges! I didn’t do anything!!!”
Yuki turned to Nina and whispered “Do they know each other?”
Nina merely shrugged and wondered what she had gotten herself into. Wyndia Castle was beginning to look nice and comfy right about now. WHY did she follow Ryu again? Oh, yeah! Adventure and a certain really cute blue-haired boy.
Ryu shook his head. “SALLA!” the Dragoon punched Ryu in the stomach. Ryu doubled over and grunted. “Captain…” Ryu snarled as he straightened.
Salla’s face twitched at the way Ryu addressed her. “What?”
“What will happened now?” Ryu asked, never taking his eyes off of Salla.
Salla merely stared back. She hated to see those eyes filled with such rage, especially after all he had gone through. But, she was a trained soldier. She could handle anything.
“You will be turned over to Prince Demus. He will then judge what to do with you four at that time.”
“What?!” Yuki yelled. “HEY! Let us go! You bitch!”
Nina shook her head. “I am Princess Nina de Wyndia IV! I demand that you let us go RIGHT NOW!”
Salla shook her head. “I am sorry Princess, but Prince Demus outranks you at this moment. We might be in your country, but his highness has seniority over you.”
Nina scowled as Salla continued. “Besides, we will be returning you to Wyndia Castle in a little while. You have been kidnapped and brainwashed into thinking that this child,” she pointed to Ryu. “Only has your best interests in mind. He is a ruthless killer and…”
Yuki’s eyes flashed gold. “BITCH! Leave Ryu alone! He has done NOTHING! YOU are the ones chasing him! Not the other way around!”
Salla turned her attention to Yuki. “Miyuki Uzuki, citizen of Crete of the Ceres Region. You are in no condition to be giving me orders.”
Sari looked up at Salla. “Excuse me?” Sari said in a small voice. “Isn’t there a way to earn our freedom?”
Salla made a face. This had already gone so very wrong. Ryu was supposed to come to Collosia by himself. He was not supposed to know that they were even there. The prince had not wanted to alert Dragnier as to what they were doing. But one look at Ryu had changed everything. She couldn’t risk anything. She needed to get him back in one piece.
After all, the last time she saw him, he was almost dead. Cursed to be turned into a lifeless statue by some unknown disease.
She was disobeying her prince, but she had already destroyed the trust of the one person who she ever cared anything about. That was much worse than anything Demus would do to her after he found out.
Salla narrowed her eyes. Maybe this could be salvaged after all.
“You can earn your freedom by fighting in the tournament. Defeat the Champion of Champions, and you will go free. Only three of you are allowed to fight, however. There are rules you have to follow after all,” Salla explained. Okay, so she was pulling it out of her ass, but she was trying to save face… and possibly her life.
Ryu nodded. “Okay. Yuki, Nina, and I will fight then.”
“Then, we will keep the girl with the green hair here as collateral to make sure you don’t try to escape. The first fight will be in an hour.” Salla turned her back to the children. “The three of you are allowed to gather what supplies you need. Just don’t run off, or the green-haired girl dies. Understand?”
Salla looked over at Yuki. The girl had been given her the evil eye. “What?”
“We need money,” Nina said. “Pay up.”
Salla rolled her eyes. “FINE! I will supply you with whatever you need. Just get out of here!”
“This is beyond sick!” Nina yelled. “Can’t we just, oh I dunno, call the Rangers or something?!”
“Ryu is on Dragnier’s most wanted list, remember?” Yuki said.
“Yeah, they declared open season on my ass,” Ryu grumbled.
“Feh, sorry I asked…”
The three of them were currently headed for a supply shop to pick up some weapons. When they had been captured, Yuki and Ryu had lost their weapons. Ryu liked that short sword, too. Bunyan had given to him for his tenth birthday after all.
They felt no need to leave the coliseum, due to the fact that there were plenty of venders in the main hallways. The hallways were jam-packed with different booths ran by Manillo merchants selling everything from weapons to healing herbs to potions to T-shirts and action figures.
Humans, Forest clanners, Grassrunners, many different people were crowded around the booths, eagerly buying merchandise of their favorite fighters. Ryu glanced over to the left and noticed a male Highlander dressed in a blue vest and short and a male St. Bernard-looking Grassrunner dressed in a green tunic standing in the corner going over a program of the scheduled fights. Ryu strained but he was able to make out a little of what they were saying.
“I say that Bob the Butcher wins the championship!” the Highlander laughed.
“Nah!” the Grassrunner said. “My money is on the new kid. Lancar or whatever his name is.”
“Lancer, I think,” the Highlander said. “Say, wanna make a bet on the outcome?”
Ryu rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Nina and Yuki. The girls were currently eyeing a wand with an orb embedded on the end of it with small wings attached to the orb.
He looked down at the money that Salla gave him and sighed. Ryu made the purchase for a short sword for him, a pair of slight curved daggers for Yuki, and that staff for Nina. He wondered if Nina even knew how to use that thing.
Nina, meanwhile, gave her wand a few practice swings. She looked over at Yuki. “This will work great against the red ninja of love if they decide to interfere with my love life!” Nina giggled.
Yuki laughed nervously and eyed the wand. “Glad we don’t half to worry about that!”
Ryu gave the girls a confused look. “Did I miss something???”
Yuki grinned. “Nothing much,” Yuki shot Nina a mischievous grin. “Nina’s just got a crush on a certain someone!”
Nina turned red in the face as Ryu gave Yuki a blank look. “Oh, really? Who?”
Nina branched her new wand and waved it threateningly at Yuki. “NO ONE!”
“Oh yeah!” Yuki cackled. “The name starts with ‘R’ and… ACK!” Yuki was cut off when Nina whacked her over the head with her wand.
Nina flipped the wand in her hand as Yuki held her aching head. “Yup, it works just fine! We will have no problem!”
Ryu sighed and glanced upward. Ladon, this was going to be a long day…
After the hour was up, Ryu and his ladies returned to the dressing room. Ryu cracked a grin as he watched Sari playing Go Fish with two of the Dragoons. Salla was sitting down on the large sofa with her legs crossed. She looked up when the door opened and stood up and walked over to Ryu.
“Your first fight is right now. Get moving.”
Ryu rolled his eyes as he and the girls walked passed Salla and out the other door that led to the arena. The three walked down a narrow hallway and up a set of stairs. When they reached the end of the hallway, they entered through a door.
The music blared as the spotlights centered on Ryu. Yuki and Nina stood on either side of Ryu, slightly behind him. Standing before him was a massive arena made of stone. All around the arena were seats packed to the brim with fans screaming and cheering like mad. Camera crews were all over the stadium, ready to capture the fight on TV.
Standing at the center of the arena was a young man with slicked back brown hair, dressed in a sleek black business suit. He held a mic in his left hand and waved at the wild audience with the right.
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” the man yelled into the mic. “WELCOME TO THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS! I AM THE GENERAL MANAGER AND YOUR HOST, JACK MCMAN!” the crowd went even wilder with applause.
Ryu shrugged. This was going to be bad. The crowd was out for blood.
“TONIGHT, WE HAVE NEW CHALLENGERS! APPARENTLY, A BUNCH OF KIDS WANT TO TRY AND TAKE ON THE REIGNING CHAMPION, BOB THE BUTCHER!” the audience booed. Ryu could really feel the love. “LET’S GIVE IT UP FOR,” McMan pulled out a rolled up paper from his back pocket. “RYU BATESON AND HIS SIDEKICKS? OKAAAAYYY…”
Ryu, Yuki, and Nina stepped forward as the audience cheered once again. The lights dimmed and really fast-paced, cheery music began to play. Fireworks shot off and on the opposite side of the arena, five men emerged from the door.
Each man looked to be in his early twenties. Each man was dressed in purple and gold spandex. And each of them was really ripped. They had muscles on top of muscles. Ryu gulped. These guys looked tough! The audience went wild at the mere sight of the men.
“Oh crap!” Nina said. “They looked really strong! What are we going to do!?”
Yuki rolled her eyes. A very little known fact was that Jin Uzuki was an avid wrestling fan. She was practically forced to listen to him ramble on and on about this team. Why they were taking part in the Tournament was beyond her.
The host decided the boys needed an introduction. But before he could, they decided to do it for him. Each man jumped forward and struck a pose and said their names.
“Cory!” the one with blond hair shouted. He was very cheerful and happy about it.
“DORY!” one with black hair gleefully shouted.
“MORY!” the short blond shouted.
“Rory!” the redhead cheered.
“Tory!” the final one, the one with brown hair, screamed.
“And together, we are the SPIRIT BRIGADE!” and with that, the five muscle men struck a pose that sent Yuki into a fit of giggles.
Tory walked over to the children and jabbed a finger at Ryu’s shoulder. “Little kids think they can take US on and win?”
Mory cackled and cracked his knuckles. “Please! We will mop the floor with you!”
The other three nodded their heads in agreement. Yuki placed her hands on her hips. “Oh please…”
Nina shook her head. “How are we suppose to take THEM on?”
Yuki patted Nina on the shoulder. “Nina, relax! Their just… cheerleaders!”
The Spirit Brigade blinked in unison as the host came over to the two groups. He looked at the two groups. “Okay, you all know the rules. Three on three fight and last man standing wins,” McMan took a step back. “And…. FIGHT!”
Mory and Tory took a step back and let Cory, Rory, and Dory fight Nina, Yuki, and Ryu. With little to no actual combat experience, Nina figured she was screwed. Six feet under, pushing up daisies, screwed.
Dory saw an opening and lunged at Nina. She prayed that her small form would provide her with enough speed. Sure enough, she was about to dodge Dory’s attack at her. She slid under him and scrambled back to her feet. She didn’t have him to see how Yuki and Ryu were fairing. She couldn’t afford to be knocked out. She was, after all, the weakest link. Or was she?
Nina mustered all her focus into her wand. The orb flashed green and gold. A sudden gale wind flew out of the orb and knocked Dory straight across the arena. The man slammed against the wall and with a sickening thud, fell to the floor unconscious. Nina lowered her wand and scratched her head.
The other four combatants even took the time to stop and glance over at the highly confused Nina. Ryu and Yuki looked shocked. When had Nina learned how to do THAT?
Nina ran over and hovered around Yuki and Ryu, just in case the two needed help. That wasn’t the case. Yuki and Ryu bum-rushed the still shocked Cory and Rory and head-butted them in the stomach. The two staggered back in surprise and Nina let loose another gale attack. The two men went flying across the room and landed right next to their fallen buddy.
The host gaped and just merely shook his head. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE WINNERS OF THIS MATCH, RYU AND HIS SIDEKICKS! THE MATCH WILL START IN A FEW MINUTES, SO HURRY BACK!”
Garr growled. He was being followed. He quickly jerked around and summoned his halberd. The follower in question merely ducked the halberd by bending over backwards. Garr got a good look at his stalker and dismissed his halberd.
“I am surprised to see you here. And so soon, too,” Garr said as he stared down at a young woman with dark blue and indigo hair.
The woman was dressed in a revealing low fitting corset and a long skirt that showed too much leg Garr was comfortable seeing. Garr knelt to one knee and looked down at the ground.
“I must apologize. I did not mean to attack you,” Garr said. He looked up at the woman, who was just merely grinning at him.
“Get up already,” the woman chuckled. “I’ve dealt with worse,” the woman placed her hands on her hips. “I’m here to give you a piece of advice.”
“Yes?” Garr asked as he stood up.
“Don’t interfere until I give you the signal. She says that what will happen must happen, no matter how we feel about the situation. Understand?”
Garr nodded. “So, does that mean that you are going to travel with us?”
The woman grinned. “For a little while. At least, that’s the plan.”
Garr nodded. “I am glad to hear that, Lady Deis. I am glad to here that.”
Nina, Ryu, and Yuki were hanging around the side of the arena. The three barely broke a sweat and didn’t need to rest up. What they were doing was actually trying to figure out how Nina laid the smack down on the Spirit Brigade.
The one thing Nina didn’t mention about her trip into the cave of hell, was the attack she launched at the Seeker. Mainly because it ended the life of that creep. She didn’t want her friends to know that she was the one that killed him.
The nightmare was bad enough. No point in making it real, right?
Nina, however, finally had to confess. She told Ryu and Yuki about the power that had welled up in her and how she directed it at the madman. Apparently, she was able to call upon that power in a great dire need.
Though kicking the asses of the Spirit Brigade wasn’t exactly a great dire need, she was still able to channel the power into her wand and direct a small portion of the power into a pretty strong gale attack.
Yuki and Ryu were highly impressed, if a little scared. Nina could be pretty scary when she was mad. Yuki could vouch for that.
Soon, the host announced for the next battle. The three walked out once again and got ready to face some guy going by the name of Lancer.
Ryu nearly had a heart attack. Standing on the opposite end of the arena, midnight blue hair pulled back into a ponytail, was Demus.
“We’re screwed,” Yuki basically summed up what the three were feeling at that exact moment.
To be continued…