Rawk Hawk awoke from a soothing sleep in the Champion's Locker Room; his HP completely restored. He felt great. He'd had a really long winning streak here in the Glitz Pit, and he couldn't wait to see who he'd battle today.
There was a knock on the door, and Rawk Hawk opened it to find Jolene standing there.
Rawk Hawk grinned widely. "Do I have a fight planned already?" he asked. "Well, I guess it's never too early to RAWWWWK! Who am I fighting?"
Jolene straitened her glasses. "We have a new fighter here who wants to fight against you," she explained. "He calls himself 'Dragon Puncher.'"
"'Dragon Puncher?'" Rawk Hawk repeated. Then he scoffed, "Well, I'm sure I'll be able to beat him."
Jolene nodded. "Okay. Be in the fighting ring by ten o'clock."
"Got it." Rawk Hawk shut the door and got ready for the fight, smiling to himself. He loved fighting, and he was confident that he could beat this 'Dragon Puncher' guy.
Lakitu (his real name was Jimmybobobrichardbillykenny, but he refused to let anyone call him that, so he just went by 'Lakitu') floated on his little cloud over to the referee's stand. Today was his first day as a referee, and unfortunately he was told that he would be refereeing a match with Rawk Hawk in it. He remembered what happened to the last guy who called a foul on Rawk Hawk.
(FLASHBACK)
"Rawk Hawk seems to be winning folks! He's got the Koopa pinned! Oh, but the Koopa gets back up! Wait- Rawk Hawk pummels him again! And again! Wait folks… Rawk Hawk just moved twice in a row! Foul! Foul on Rawk Hawk! H-hey… What're you doing? I'm the referee! You can't come after the referee! Foul! Foul! Gah!"
(END FLASHBACK)
Lakitu shivered. That poor referee never came back to the Glitz Pit again.
The large clock in the fighting arena reached 9:30, and the doors opened to let the fans in. Lakitu had half an hour before the fight started.
At 9:50, Rawk Hawk entered and walked over to the right side of the fighting ring, waiting for it to start. Squinting to see, Lakitu spotted Rawk Hawk's opponent: Dragon Puncher. He couldn't really see the challenger in the shadow of the ring, but he looked ready to fight.
Finally, the clock struck 10:00. It was time for the fight to start.
Lakitu stepped up onto the small referee's stand, motioning for the crowd to be quiet. "Ladies and Gentlekoopas, welcome to the Glitz Pit!" The crowd cheered, and Lakitu smiled. "Today, we have a special match, featuring Rawk Hawk, the Glitz Pit's champion!"
The crowd screamed and cheered again, and Rawk Hawk stepped into the ring as if he were stepping onto a royal red carpet. The crowd roared louder.
Lakitu continued. "Fighting against Rawk Hawk, we have a special visitor! Ladies and Gentlekoopas, I present to you: Dragon Puncher!"
Dragon Puncher stepped into the ring, joining Rawk Hawk. He was a young man, looking to be about 24 years old. He wore a fiery red armored suit, and had medium length brown hair. He turned towards the crowd and held up his hands, and a loud cheer erupted from them. He turned back to face Rawk Hawk, and got into a battle stance.
Rawk Hawk did the same, narrowing his eyes at the newcomer.
Lakitu raised a whistle to his lips. "AAAAAAAAAND FIGHT!" He blew the whistle, and the fight began.
Dragon Puncher struck first, throwing a fast punch towards Rawk Hawk's stomach. Rawk Hawk countered by delivering a powerful side kick to Dragon Puncher's shoulder. Dragon Puncher stood his ground though, and continued to punch Rawk Hawk in various places.
"Oh…." Lakitu called. "And Rawk Hawk takes a nasty punch to the face! But Rawk Hawk comes back and slams Dragon Puncher to the Ground! But he gets back up! And throws Rawk Hawk back with a kick to the chest! Ooh, Rawk Hawk looks angry!"
Rawk Hawk was indeed angry. He couldn't seem to get this guy onto the ground. Every move he made was countered by an equally powerful attack from his opponent. He hated it when fights tied, and the fact that he was the one fighting right now made him extremely frustrated. He wasn't going to let this newcomer beat him.
He waited until Dragon Puncher threw another punch his way, and then struck with as much power as he could muster, punching Dragon Puncher in the face (Oh, the irony!). Dragon Puncher fell to the ground. As he tried to get back up, Rawk Hawk jumped on top of him and continued to pummel him.
Lakitu's eyes widened. Rawk Hawk couldn't do that! That was a foul! Lakitu was going to call it, but he remembered what happened to the last ref again. He couldn't do it.
The crowd was exploding, half cheering Rawk Hawk on, and the other half screaming "Foul! Foul! That's a foul! Call the foul Ref!"
Dragon Puncher suddenly cried out, "Yoshi! Come and help me!" A small Yoshi kid popped up from the crowd and leaped into the ring. He jumped and ground pounded Rawk Hawk's head, making him release Dragon Puncher.
Now the crowd's views had turned around. The side rooting for Dragon Puncher was cheering and Rawk Hawk's fans were crying "Foul!"
Lakitu shook his head in confusion. Finally, he gathered the courage, and blew his whistle. "Foul! Foul on both of you! Rawk Hawk, You're not allowed to attack twice in a row, and Dragon Puncher, you're not allowed to call someone out of the crowd to fight for you. Draw! Neither fighter wins!"
Both Dragon Puncher and Rawk Hawk turned on Lakitu.
"What?" Dragon Puncher exclaimed. "You can't do that! I was only using self defense!" He patted the Yoshi Kid's head.
"That's not fair!" Rawk Hawk whined. "I was about to win! I call a rematch!"
"I agree." Dragon Puncher nodded. "Let's have a rematch. Right now."
The crowd cheered.
Lakitu sighed. "Well, okay, you guys can have a rematch. But there will be NO CHEATING! And, this time, the rules are, whoever strikes the first blow wins!"
Both fighters nodded and got back into battle stances.
"AAAAAAAAND FIGHT!"
This time, Rawk Hawk made the first move. He made to kick Dragon Puncher in the shoulder, but he dodged to the left just in time, turning to punch Rawk Hawk in the face. The fighter bent backwards, barely dodging it. He kicked at Dragon Puncher with a low sweep, and the newcomer jumped forwards, trying to land on Rawk Hawk's head, but he rolled forwards just in time. Rawk Hawk did a back flip and landed right next to Dragon Puncher, preparing to punch him. Dragon Puncher ducked underneath the punch, and dived in towards Rawk Hawk, aiming to punch him in the stomach. Rawk Hawk saw this and brought his fist down, hoping to catch the other fighter off-guard and pound him into the ground. However, Dragon Puncher saw this and rolled out of the way right before Rawk Hawk struck the ground where he had been.
Dragon Puncher backed away, catching his breath. Rawk Hawk saw this as an opening, and charged, jumping up and preparing to body slam his opponent. Dragon Puncher waited until the larger fighter was nearly on top of him, before he somersaulted out of the way, and stood as Rawk Hawk hit the ground next to him. Smiling, Dragon Puncher delivered a small punch to his opponent's back, winning the fight.
The crowd erupted into cheers, nearly everyone was excited that Rawk Hawk's winning streak was over, and they had a new champion. Dragon Puncher was led through the crowd towards the champion's locker room, greeting his new fans on the way there. Jolene was waiting outside the door.
"Since you won the fight, you'll be able to sleep here until you want to leave," She explained. She gestured towards the door handle, indicting he should open it himself. Dragon Puncher smiled and did so, but was taken aback by what he saw.
All the other fighters were inside the room, smiling and talking amongst each other. There was a large banner hanging from the ceiling that read 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY DRAGON PUNCHER' in big letters. When everyone saw him enter, they immediately yelled, "Surprise!"
Dagon Puncher smiled. Everyone was here, his family, his friends, the fighters, even Rawk Hawk sulked in after him. Everyone was here, except for…
"Dragon Puncher!"
Dragon Puncher turned and saw Lakitu enter the room, and he smiled widely. "Lakitu! Thanks so much for inviting me here for my birthday!"
Lakitu laughed. "No problem!" he smiled and led Dragon Puncher over to a table that had a cake on it. "Nice job fighting, by the way," he added.
Dragon Puncher grinned. "Thanks again!" he sighed contentedly. "This is the best birthday ever!"
A/N: Happy Birthday, dragon19kyoshi! I hope you enjoyed your story!