Chapter XLIV: Round One Begins

Ryu and Fahra stepped onto the ring. They could both hear East and South Kai arguing in the stands. Ryu was from the South Galaxy and Fahra was from the East. Ryu was a lean man with a brown scruffy beard that extended an inch or two down from his chin. He had long hair that he slicked back, but still fell off to the sides. He wore a black jacket and black sweatpants. Fahra was a darker skinned man with navy-blue colored hair that covered one eye and a white turban on his head. His wore no shirt and white pants. They both were embarrassed by their Galaxy's Kais.

"ARE THE FIGHTERS READY?!" They nodded their heads. "THEN, BEGIN!"

Fahra pulled two daggers out of his belt and rushed at Ryu. Ryu jumped back in retaliation. Fahra began twirling with his arms out at an extremely high speed. The tornado of daggers was moving dangerously close to Ryu and they were approaching the edge of the ring. They were wasting no time. Before he knew it, Ryu was trapped in the corner. He ran toward Fahra and slid on the ground under the daggers. He knocked Fahra's feet out from under him, causing him to fall forward and slam his face on the tile.

"OOOHHHH! CONTESTANT WISTO IS DOWN! ONE! TWO! THREE! HE'S BACK UP ON THE COUNT OF THREE!"

Fahra ran at Ryu again, but more controlled this time. With a clever feint, he was suddenly behind Ryu and had him in a chokehold. "Give up, Ryu." He said. "There's nothing you can do now."

Ryu flexed his muscles and many veins started to show through. Suddenly everyone in the audience felt a draft, then felt the wind flow back in toward Ryu. Then it stopped. It was completely silent. Ryu then let out a deep yell and Fahra was forced off of his back, and then blown full force out of the ring and into the stands. Just after that, the audience was almost blown out of their seats as well. The announcer, who had no seat, was blown off the ground and into the wall below the seats.

After some groaning, he got up. "RYU HAS KNOCKED FAHRA OUT OF THE RING! RYU MOVES ON TO ROUND TWO!"

Ryu walked off the stage as the crowd erupted. He wasn't too tired, but there was sweat glistening off of his forehead. Dominick walked up to him. "That was quite the attack. How'd you do that?"

He smiled. "Nice try." Ryu said. "I wouldn't give away my attack to someone who may be my opponent next round."

Dominick awkwardly laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"ALRIGHT, IT'S TIME FOR THE SECOND MATCH! LET'S GET CONTESTANTS DOMINICK FISCALINI AND SEROM ETHEL OUT HERE!"

Dominick was already standing in the doorway of the breakroom, so he looked back to see who his opponent was. His appearance sent shivers down his spine. It was an old man with shaggy white hair and a monocle. He had what looked like a fish tank in his chest. There was some sort of liquid in there. His right arm below the elbow had been made into a syringe. The two of them walked out onto the stage.

Dominick shuddered. "Man, this arena makes the one in the living world look like a little sandbox." He murmured to himself.

"READY?! BEGIN!"

Serom immediately pointed his syringe arm at Dominick the liquid inside of him started bubbling, and suddenly the liquid sprayed at him. It got all over him, and it was all gooey, but before he knew it, he was dry again. Time around him started to speed up.

"I slowed down your senses." Serom said. "Everything seems like it's going super fast, doesn't it?" Dominick could barely comprehend what he was saying, he was speaking so fast.

Then, Serom lunged at him. He was fast, but not as fast as Hotokira. Dominick closed his eyes and felt around. He felt Serom move right in front of him, and he took the opportunity to attack. Opening his eyes, he hit his opponent right in his oblique and sent him flying out of the ring.

"JUST LIKE THAT, DOMINICK WINS! HE'LL BE FIGHTING RYU IN ROUND 2!"

Everything began to return back to normal speed from Dominick's perspective. Even though his senses were slowed, he was able to react to Serom's movements. Was it just because Serom was slow, or was it because Dominick was on an entirely different level?

Dominick went back into the breakroom as the crowd cheered. Serom had to be carried off because he'd lost consciousness. Dalton greeted him at the door. "That was easy, huh?"

"I think it's better if we don't use our full strength in the early rounds. We may end up killing our opponents." Dominick said. Dalton nodded. These were supposed to be heroes from all over the Universe.

"FOR THE THIRD ROUND, WE HAVE DALTON FISCALINI AND ARUJAN CATHAR! PLEASE ENTER THE RING!"

"I think I'll just scare him into giving up." Dalton said.

"Probably a good idea." Dominick replied.

Arujan Cathar was a lean yet muscular man with a dirty blonde army flat-topped haircut and very defined jawlines. He wore a baggy dark blue shirt tucked into black pants. "There's a kid fighting here? How'd they even let you onto this planet, kid? You catch your mom after she tripped?" Arujan teased. Dalton ignored him.

The man in the brown gi approached Dominick. This would be interesting. He seemed to have a lot of energy. "Yo." He said while putting a hand on Dominick's shoulder. "Is that your brother out there?"

Dominick looked at the man. Their faces were actually similarly shaped, but Dominick's face just looked slightly younger. He had black hair tied in a ponytail out of which hair spewed in every direction. He reminded Dominick of one of the ancient ninjas from the old fantasy stories. However, there was something familiar about him, something that Dominick couldn't put his hand on. He just felt like they had something in common. "Yeah, he's my younger brother. We just got here a month ago."

"A month? That's super recent." The man said. "We've been here for a damn long while, but this is the first tournament we've been able to fight in." He took Dominick's hand and shook it, which surprised Dominick a little. "The name's Rari. Say, you've got a lot of power, don't you?"

This guy was talking a lot. Dominick thought for a little while about how to respond, then said, "I don't know. I've only done one punch. There's not a lot you can tell from that."

"I can tell." Rari said. "We'll probably end up fighting in the semifinals."

Then the two of them saw a huge tornado of flames erupt from the arena, and then they heard a terrified Arujan say, "I-I give up!"

"AMAZING, DALTON DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO ATTACK, AND HE'S ALREADY WON! NEXT IS A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO MORE ROOKIES, AND GET THIS: THEY'RE TWIN BROTHERS! THIS SHOULD BE GOOD! CAN KAOREN AND NYORIYO HASHAI PLEASE ENTER THE RING!" The crowd erupted.

"That is if I can beat Dalton in the quarterfinals." Dominick replied to Rari.

"That's true, your brother looks really strong as well." Rari said. "Well, I'm going to go out onto the field for this match. It's one I definitely don't want to miss. Good luck!" He called as he ran out to the field.

"What a strange guy." Dominick said to himself. He watched as he ran toward a girl that was already on the field.

"Lisa! My sweet Lisa!" He yelled. She cowered in a sort of comfortable fear, like it was some kind of gag.

"Please stop that, Rari. You're scaring me." She said, politely as can be. She looked adorable. She couldn't have been any older than Dominick when she'd died and come here, and she was dressed in a strange black kimono that covered a white gi. She almost reminded him of Ichimei.

By this time, Dalton was back in the breakroom and the Hashai twins were in the ring. Rari seemed to know these two, and he'd said that he didn't want to miss the fight. Something told him that there was merit behind Rari's words.

"READY?! BEGIN!"

Nyoriyo and Kaoren rushed at each other. They were so fast, Dominick thought that liquid from earlier was still affecting him.

They pulled no punches. It was like they were fighting to kill each other. Kaoren punched his brother in the face, but Nyoriyo didn't stop. He continued moving forward and punched Kaoren in the stomach. They were moving all around the ring like it was nothing. For every hit that Kaoren would land, Nyoriyo would land a counterattack. They were hitting really hard, too. Dominick found himself thinking that he wouldn't want to take any of those punches. Each blow sent a small shockwave that could actually be seen by those in the audience.

"Those two are really going at it." Martin said from behind Dominick and Dalton.

"Yeah they are." Dominick replied. "But look at them. They look like they're having so much fun." Even though they were already bruised all over their bodies, they both had smiles on their faces that went from ear to ear. "You better be paying attention, Dalton." He said. "Whoever wins this fight will be your opponent next round. They might give you a run for your money."

"Are you kidding?" Dalton retorted. "They may be strong, but they're no match for a Super Saiyan."

Dominick felt a gaze from someone else in the room when Dalton said that. He looked behind him to see who it was, but there was no one looking at him. He did see, however, that both Soriyamo and Shirako were also watching the fight intently. Kasae was in the back corner, sitting down. Dominick thought he was asleep at first, but suddenly he looked up and made eye contact with him. Dominick abruptly looked away. This was really strange. There were six contestants here that all seemed to know each other. And each of them was strange in their own way. Soriyamo, Shirako, and Kasae all had the same exact sword as Dominick. Kaoren and Nyoriyo were twins, and they were both super strong. Rari...was just strange in general. But how were they intertwined. Rari seemed so innocent, but he was talking to Soriyamo like it was nothing earlier, and Soriyamo just seemed really...suspicious, even aside from the sword.

"WOAH, NYORIYO HAS BEEN KNOCKED DOWN!"

Dominick looked back at the arena and sure enough, Nyoriyo was on the ground with Kaoren standing above him, panting. "What happened?" He asked.

"Haven't you been watching?" Dalton said. "They're pretty close in strength, but Kaoren has had a slight but apparent upper hand this whole time."

"I only looked away for a couple seconds." Dominick said. "They're already this tired after only this long?"

Martin looked at him. "Dude, they've been fighting for like five minutes already."

Dominick watched as Nyoriyo got up on the count of six. How long was he looking away for?

Nyoriyo ran at his brother with a ball of energy in his hand. A couple meters in front of him, he jumped up and over his head. In the middle of a front flip, he threw the energy ball down at Kaoren. Kaoren punched the energy ball and it exploded. He then jumped up and hit Nyoriyo in the jaw with an uppercut. He fell onto his back, but instantly got back up. The two ran at each other again and, both with the same idea, punched each other in the gut at the exact same time. Dominick felt the wind from the shockwave of that one. Nyoriyo staggered, and almost fell to his knees, but managed to stay standing. Kaoren jumped up high into the air, almost hitting the ceiling. He hardly realized there was a ceiling. It was painted like outer space, and it looked so realistic. He lowered himself a little to give himself a cushion in case he was pushed back. He aimed his palm down at the ring for a big energy blast, but Nyoriyo was flying straight at him with remarkable speed, and wasn't slowing down.

"Idiot, what are you trying to do?" He said. He continued to form the energy blast, but he'd underestimated his brother's speed. He'd also expected him to slow do a little bit so he could attack, but he didn't before the energy could manifest in his hand, Nyoriyo's head slammed into Kaoren's chest. It completely knocked the wind out of him, and made him a little dizzy, too. He started to fall. "Damn...he got me." He muttered to himself as he fell back to the ring. The ring cracked under the impact of his fall, causing some dust to rise. He hit so hard that he bounced a couple times before settling on the edge of the ring. The arena was completely silent. Once the dust cleared, the mushroom man ran over to the scene.

"WHAT?! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! EVEN AFTER THAT STELLAR ATTACK, NYORIYO LANDED OUTSIDE THE RING! KAOREN IS THE WINNER!"

The crowd cheered louder than any of the other matches. Kaoren struggled to stand up. "That idiot…" He said to himself. "He lost consciousness as soon as he hit me. I'm lucky that I landed where I did, or he would have been the winner."

"WHAT AN AMAZING FIGHT! LET'S GIVE THEM BOTH A HAND!"

Kaoren jumped off the stage to where his brother was lying. He hoisted him onto his back and carried him off into the breakroom while the crowd was still going wild.