This story will mostly be told from Rinko's perspective but will primarily be about Rinko, Mantaro and Kevin.

Chapter 2: The Final Round

"Kevin Mask is a monster."

The statement had been little more than a whisper and barely audible over the drone of the 124,500 fans packed into the Tokyo National Stadium for the final of the Chojin Olympics yet Rinko had heard every word as clearly as though they had been spoken directly to her in a quiet setting. In Rinko's opinion, Kevin Mask was a phenomenal wrestler and arguably the best of his generation: but as secretly filmed videos of his training sessions and uncut replays of the outcomes of his first, second and third round fights were played to the audience she could not help but agree that he was also a monster. He had killed his first and second round opponents and if Meat had not so heroically intervened, he would also have killed his third round opponent Ilioukhine.

She wondered what Kevin Mask had planned for Mantaro.

Mantaro was foolish, cowardly, lazy, greedy and usually thoughtless, but he had always managed to stand up and fight for his friends when the need had arisen. Although he had run away after Kevin's fight against Ilioukhine Rinko was confident that Mantaro would return to face Kevin that day and he would surely show that famous fighting spirit he possessed but rarely used. Even without Meat to guide him, Mantaro would rise to the challenge, find a way to overcome the indomitable iron knight and stand victorious.

And Rinko's conviction only became stronger when Mantaro finally made his entrance looking like both a prince and a champion. It was probably the first time Rinko had seen him make a serious entrance to a fight as he usually dressed in ludicrous outfits backed by absurd and irrelevant music. But as he approached the ring for his chance to become a Chojin Olympics Champion Mantaro finally looked strong, focussed, regal and intense. Rinko let out a small sigh and suddenly felt her friends' eyes burning into her. She glanced back and forth between them for an explanation but they merely glared back at her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Did you just say…" Keiko began.

"Mantaro looks good?" Tamaki finished.

"N-no!"

Rinko felt herself blush under the intense and sceptical stares of her two friends. She had been thinking that Mantaro looked really good but she had certainly not said as much. Or at least she could not remember voicing her thoughts. She was grateful then that her friends began cooing amongst themselves about how great Mantaro looked so that she could waft a hand at her face to help ease the burn in her cheeks of her own embarrassment.

But as she watched Mantaro leap over the top rope of the ring Rinko felt a rush in her chest and she knew that her feelings for him went beyond just friendship. She had first realised how much she liked him when she realised that she missed him during his battle against the No Respect trio. He had appeared in countless newspapers and magazines and she had found herself buying them on instinct and reading every one several times, to the point that she had done little else outside of attending school. When Mantaro had returned to Earth he had seemed a little more sensible somehow and Rinko found herself wanting to spend more time with him. Throughout the Chojin Olympics Mantaro had still displayed some of his immature and silly antics he was famous for, but only his attraction to Jacqueline had angered Rinko in the way all of his little quirks once had.

Looking up at Mantaro standing in the centre of the ring, his cape lifted slightly on the air around them, Rinko wondered if she was actually in love with him; although love seemed like such a powerful word to her and she had never considered applying it to her feelings for anyone other than Mari before.

Rinko's thoughts were suddenly broken into as the audience around her began gasping and yelling out in shock. Rinko quickly copied their actions as she sighted the cause of their horror: Kevin Mask was walking towards the ring looking thoroughly exhausted and wearing a battered old mask with a large gash across the forehead. Behind her she heard Kid explain that the cut, and indeed the mask itself, looked old and that he believed it to be an old mask Kevin had modified to look like his usual, flawless and gleaming blue iron mask. Kid's words were meaningless to Rinko who was more distracted by the aura emanating from Kevin as he approached the ring. With the old mask and being apparently physically worn out he looked awful; yet somehow he still seemed intimidating and confident to the point of arrogance.

Rinko turned back to Mantaro to judge his reaction to what he was witnessing. He was still standing tall, arms crossed, in the same stance that had seemed so regal and powerful only minutes earlier, and yet he seemed less in control somehow. El Nino let out a yelp of surprise and Rinko finally saw why Mantaro had lost his dignity. Under any other circumstances Rinko would have been thoroughly disgusted by the sight of Mantaro wetting himself, but Kevin Mask did look particularly frightening, his second Croe looked almost as intimidating and Kevin's track record in the Chojin Olympics had been nothing short of brutal, so she overlooked Mantaro's actions, instead concerning herself with how Mantaro would fare against an opponent as strong and focussed as Kevin Mask.

When the bell finally rang and the fight began Rinko was surprised to see that both Chojin were hesitant to take the first shot. The first few minutes of what had been a much-hyped confrontation were slow and awkward until Mantaro eventually began the assault with a series of kicks that eventually knocked Kevin to the mat. Though apparently Kevin was not as exhausted as he looked because in a flash he had sent Mantaro flying, leaving a small spray of blood in his wake. As he got to his feet it was apparent that Kevin was still breathless but as always Kid had an explanation for what Rinko could see happening inside the ring.

"Kevin Mask has been training hard and rid himself of all his excess energy," he explained. "This way he's calm and focussed. Even if Mantaro strikes first, Kevin can move faster."

"What?" Tamaki asked.

Rinko was as confused as her friends were but as she watched the action in front of them she quickly saw the point Kid had been trying to make. Every time Mantaro launched an attack on Kevin, Kevin was somehow able to avoid harm and counter-attack Mantaro. Mantaro's situation seemed quite bleak and hopeless but Rinko knew that his greatest strength was entering a challenge as the under-dog and somehow finding a method to better his opponent to take the win. Whilst she was sure that he was facing his toughest opponent yet in the ring, Rinko was also still reasonably confident that Mantaro would find the strength, courage and resourcefulness to defeat Kevin Mask.

After all, the alternative did not bear thinking about: Rinko was certain that if Mantaro was not victorious that day one way or another, this fight would be his last.

Every moment of the intense fight inside the ring seemed to last an eternity and yet the eventual last few minutes of the fight flew by. After witnessing the fight go in favour of and against both Chojins the battle came to an abrupt, almost anti-climatic finish. The instant between Kevin Mask standing victorious and the bell ringing to signify the end of the action was somehow stilled and silent and the clanging of the bell made Rinko start. Her head throbbed and her eyes blurred from a combination of tears and a sickening dizziness that overtook her body as she heard the announcement that Kevin Mask was the winner. The notion that she had perhaps imagined the last few seconds was killed as she watched the British fans celebrate the result.

"I-I don't believe it," Tamaki said.

"Poor Mantaro!" Keiko said.

"It just wasn't his time," Mari said. "Maybe at the next Chojin Olympics."

Rinko turned to Mari sharply wondering if she had misheard. Mari seemed quite accepting of Mantaro's loss and yet Rinko was distraught. As though sensing Rinko's dilemma Mari turned to her and smiled gently.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be fine," she said. "And now that he's fought Kevin Mask he'll be prepared to face him again. Next time Mantaro will be the champion of the Chojin Olympics."

"Next time?" Rinko said.

In her mind, there was no next time. Mantaro was meant to have won. He was invincible. He was not the hardest worker but he always won. He always fought hard and he always won. It was impossible that he could have been defeated. It was impossible that he was lying crushed in the centre of the ring, lucky to still be alive after being manhandled by Kevin Mask.

But upon turning back to the ring, Rinko could see that Kevin was being awarded as the victor and medics were tending to Mantaro's limp form. As hard as it was for her to believe, Mantaro had just been defeated in battle and was lying broken, bloodied, battered and unconscious in the middle of the ring. And apart from being bloody, a little sweatier and baring a new gouge out of his mask, Kevin Mask looked no worse than he had when he had entered the stadium before the start of the fight.

Kevin Mask really was a monster.