Chapter XLVIII: Round Two in Full Swing

"YOSUHIRO MAKIE AND DJARA KAKYYMI, PLEASE ENTER THE RING!"

Djara was basically a lion in a humanoid body. He had long, bushy hair that fell down to his waist, like a mane. He also had fur on the outside of his forearm, and thin tail. He was massive; bigger than any of the other contestants by far.

"Aw, I'm fighting another scrawny punk?" He muttered.

Yosuhiro said nothing and took a fighting stance.

"READY, BEGIN!"

In an instant, Yosuhiro was right next to Djara. He only measured up to his opponent's waist. He jumped up and elbowed Djara in the gut. The beast doubled over, coughing and drooling all over the ring.

"I'd prefer to get this over with." Yosuhiro said. "It's hard to enjoy fighting when I'm looking at such a revolting face the whole time."

"You prick!" Djara yelled. "I'll make you pay!" Suddenly, he began to grow in size until his ankles were taller than Yosuhiro's head. "That's right. My size is proportional to my strength, and I get stronger by getting angry! So by all means, keep making me mad!"

Before he knew it, he found himself lying on the floor outside the arena. Yosuhiro was standing in the ring with his palm out. It was smoking. "That's all the more reason to win as soon as possible."

"You bastard!" Djara screamed. "You cheated! There's no way I could be knocked out that easily!" He got up and started charging Yosuhiro, but suddenly, he disappeared.

"How pointless." Yosuhiro muttered, spitting at the place Djara was at.

Dominick swore he saw someone fly in, pick up Djara, and leave. But it was all a blur. All he saw was silver hair and some sort of purple bandage. His speed was easily on par with that of Hotokira.

"YOSUHIRO IS THE WINNER! HE WILL FIGHT RARI IN THE QUARTERFINALS!" The announcer acted like it didn't even happen. Djara disappeared from their very eyes. In fact, no one in the crowd reacted, either. It was as if they'd expected it to happen. There was only one person who could be responsible. Widely known across all of Otherworld as the strongest fighter...It had to be the Naga. It had to be Kashito.

That was the first glimpse that Dominick had at Kashito's power. It was insane. Was there really someone as strong as him in the Otherworld? Then it dawned on him. Could Kashito be...a Makara Warrior?

"SHIRAKO YASUFUMI AND RAAFAR STRUMA, PLEASE ENTER THE RING!"

Shirako still didn't have his sword. His long hair covered his entire backside. His face looked so smooth, and his stride was so graceful, but there was no sense of femininity about him. He seemed more like a prince than anything.

Raafar also seemed like a prince, but in a different way. His stride did look graceful, but he was wearing a facial expression that reeked of entitlement. Apparently, he had saved many endangered species and civilizations by handing out money. It was all he'd been talking about for the entire tournament. He was a burly man despite his personality. He had black hair that was parted in the middle and hung down to his chin, and wore clothes that arguably weren't fit for fighting, but he'd made it to the second round, so they couldn't be too bad.

"How can you fight with all of that hair?" Raafar asked with a haughty smile.

"I will demonstrate." Shirako replied.

"READY, BEGIN!"

Shirako's hair whipped around behind him as he launched at his opponent. Raafar barely even had time to blink. He was already on the grass.

"S-SO FAST! SHIRAKO KNOCKED RAAFAR OUT OF THE RING IN UNDER A SECOND! HE WILL MOVE ON TO THE QUARTERFINALS!"

Dominick found himself a little satisfied seeing Raafar get knocked out so quickly. Shirako stepped off the ring and walked back into the break room. He smiled at Dominick as he walked by. It was a smile that made him feel warm inside. It was comforting. He was strange. Dominick didn't know whether that should have made him more suspicious or not.

MARTIN LOZANO AND LISA TSUBASUKE, PLEASE ENTER THE RING!

"Be careful, Lisa." Rari said as she left to hop onto the ring. "We don't know what he's capable of."

"I know." She replied, smiling. "I'll be just fine."

Martin walked up to the ring as well. Rari glared at him, and he caught him looking out of the corner of his eye. Rari noticed he was caught, and he walked up to Martin and grabbed his collar. "Listen here, pal."

"Rari!" Lisa exclaimed, embarrassed.

"I swear to you, if she's injured…" Rari grumbled low enough for only Martin to hear.

"Don't worry, I'm like you." Martin replied. "I don't like hitting women, either. I've got a wife in the living world. Now, if you don't mind letting go of me…"

Rari let him go and crossed his arms as Martin walked the rest of the way onto the stage.

Lisa bowed to him, putting one fist to her open palm in front of her. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She said sweetly.

Martin smiled and did the same. "Likewise."

"Hey, don't go talking to my Lisa like that!" Rari yelled from the side.

Martin rolled his eyes. "Dude, shut up!" He retorted. "All I said was likewise! And I already told you I'm married!"

Lisa giggled. "You two are funny." She said. There was no way Martin could bring himself to hurt this girl, even if he wanted to. She was just too innocent, and her appearance wasn't helping, either. She looked about Dalton's age. Martin had to tell himself not to let his guard down. She had defeated her opponent with ease in the last round. He could be in trouble here if he wasn't careful.

"READY, BEGIN!"

Lisa ran at Martin and jumped up in the air, kicking at him several times before landing. Martin blocked all of them. She jumped back at him after she hit the ground. She had some speed, but her attacks didn't hit hard.

"As I thought," Martin said after a while, "I can't bring myself to fight you. Please, just concede the match. You're already getting tired."

"I can't give up." She said. "I know I can't beat you, but I just can't concede the match. I would be breaking my promise...to my older brother!" She yelled again and ran at him. Kasae, who was watching the fight, clenched his fist when she mentioned her brother. Dominick put the pieces together. Her brother was probably the one that was missing, the one that Kasae was obviously close to. That excluded the possibility of it being their father.

"Fine." He replied. "I will find a way to defeat you, then."

She lunged at him again. His mind was racing. How could he defeat her without hurting her? She was too strong to fall for the ways that Rari had already used. Ringout was probably impossible, forcing her down for a ten count would be humiliating, and she refused to give up. It was hard to think while she was constantly attacking him. His forearm was starting to bruise from taking so many kicks. However, there was one way to win that wasn't one of the previously mentioned. If only he could find a way to knock her unconscious without hurting her. Then, he smiled.

He waited for her to tire and jump back to recuperate. When she did, she wasted no time in attacking again. As she ran at him, he disappeared. Suddenly, her knees buckled and her eyes rolled back. He reappeared and caught her before she hit the ground. He looked at the announcer, who was visibly confused. "Hey, this one's out cold."

The mushroom man ran onto the ring to confirm. He nodded his head. "LISA IS, IN FACT, UNCONSCIOUS, MAKING MARTIN THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND! HE WILL FACE SHIRAKO IN THE QUARTERFINALS!"

Martin looked back to the break room. Shirako, huh...this could be trouble.

"Hey, you bastard!" Rari yelled at him. "What the hell did you do?!"

"Relax, I just tapped a couple pressure points." He replied. "She didn't feel a thing, and she'll be awake in like a minute or two." He bent down and picked up her legs with his other arm and carried her to the edge of the ring. "Here, take her." He jumped down and handed Rari her unconscious body.

Rari couldn't stay mad when he saw her peaceful face. "Listen…" He said. "You can't stick around here for too long." Martin gave him a confused look. "You have to go back to your wife."

He smiled and nodded, then went back to break room. Dominick greeted him at the door. "How'd you knock her out like that?"

"Well, all the time Chonie and I spent working on Thirteen's body paid off. I learned a lot about the body there, including a lot of different pressure points." He explained.

Dalton looked up at Martin. "We think Lisa's brother is the one that Kasae was getting worked up over earlier." He said it low enough so no one else could hear. "She could be an important lead to finding out where they are."

"KASAE ITSUMI AND SAIRYO SAKUSUKO, PLEASE COME TO THE RING!"

The two were already next to each other, and they stood up at the same time. Sairyo was visibly nervous. Kasae was visibly pissed. It seemed like Kasae was always pissed. The two walked onto the ring together and went to opposite sides.

"Let's get this over with." Kasae muttered.

"READY, BEGIN!"

"I'll let you know, I'm not as nice as Rari." He told her.

"That would only be an insult to me if you were." She responded. They lunged at each other. Sairyo was a loud fighter. She would yell with every strike. Kasae was the opposite. He just kept adjusting his glasses in between attacks.

She kicked at his face, and he brushed it aside. He sent an uppercut toward her gut in response, and she blocked it by grabbing his fist. She jumped back and sent an energy blast at him, but he just stuck his hand out in front of him and it exploded on his hand, creating a cloud of dust in front of him. Sairyo appeared through the cloud of dust and started attacking him. His hands moved wherever the attacks came. He clearly wasn't trying. This whole time, he hadn't even opened his mouth, which meant he'd been breathing through his nose the whole time.

He caught a punch that was aimed for his head. He threw her back and she stumbled, but stayed on her feet. "This is ridiculous." Kasae said. "I don't have the patience to play around here. You can have the match, I'm done."

"Wait!" She yelled at him. "You can't just give up!"

"Huh? Don't you want to win?"

"No, you have to take this seriously!" She cried. "That's all I want! If I can't fight with you at your full strength, then how am I supposed to make you rely on me?"

Kasae widened his eyes for a little bit, but then chuckled. "How foolish." Then he got back into a fighting stance. "Very well, I will fight you for real." He drew his sword and his power jumped up again. Before she could react, he lunged at her and hit her in the stomach with his hilt. The blow sent her flying out of the ring, and the match ended.

"SAIRYO HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT OF THE RING! KASAE IS THE WINNER!"

Kasae just walked straight back to the break room. Shirako was waiting for him. "Don't you think you're being a little cold to Sairyo?" He asked as politely as possible. "Whenever I'm training her, all she talks about is you. She really looks up to you."

Kasae looked at Shirako, then out at Sairyo, who was getting up, and then back straight ahead. "How should I know?" He said, then walked into the back room. Shirako sighed and followed him.

"NOW, FOR THE FINAL MATCH OF ROUND TWO! WAICHEI KARAKEN AND SORIYAMO KAGEYOSHI, PLEASE ENTER THE RING!"

Waichei was up there before Soriyamo was. He was standing in his position with his hands in his pockets. He hadn't put his shirt back on since the first round. Soriyamo smiled at him. "It's been a long time since we've fought, hasn't it, Soriyamo?"

"It has." He replied.

"READY, BEGIN!"

Waichei launched at Soriyamo. He threw a huge energy blast directly at his opponent. Soriyamo put his hands out to block it, but it began pushing him back toward the edge of the ring. With a grunt, he pushed it up above his head and it shot off upward and exploded on the roof. Soriyamo then drew his sword. Waichei released a rapidfire energy attack, which Soriyamo managed to dodge all of them with a series of quick steps. When he was right in front of Waichei, he raised his sword above his head and struck downward. The blade struck Waichei's left collarbone, or the slab of muscle protecting it. There was no blood. The blade made contact, but...it didn't cut. It stopped on the surface of Waichei's skin. Soriyamo clicked his tongue and jumped back. Then, he sheathed his sword and chuckled. "Just like I thought. My blade as it is now is unable to cut you." He said. "I will have to defeat you another way."

Waichei's demeanor completely changed. He suddenly had a crazed smile. "Of course your sword can't cut me." He sneered. "Using a weapon like that is pussy shit."

"You're in fighting mode, now, aren't you?" Soriyamo asked.

"As Saiyans, aren't we always in fighting mode?" His power began to rise dramatically. "FIGHTING IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR! AND WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN OUR PRIMAL WAYS: FIST TO FIST?!"

"I suppose you're right." Soriyamo replied with a smile. Then, he went Super Saiyan. "Since the cat is already out of the bag, you should go Super Saiyan as well."

Waichei's face turned serious. "You know I can't do that. I swore I would never go Super Saiyan again when we died."

"It was worth a shot." Soriyamo lunged at his opponent.

Watching them fight, Dominick became increasingly uneasy. Soriyamo had just said Waichei could also become a Super Saiyan, but he wouldn't transform. And yet, they were still evenly matched. No, Waichei had a slight upper hand. Furthermore, Waichei's power was growing as they fought, and at a startling rate. There was definitely a feeling of tension hanging throughout the break room, and it was undoubtedly because of this man.

Dominick shuddered when he heard Waichei's crazed laughter coming from the ring. "COME NOW, SORIYAMO! WE'RE ONLY GETTING STARTED! AND AS THIS FIGHT CONTINUES, I WILL ONLY GET STRONGER, 'CAUSE MY POWER IS FUCKIN' LIMITLESS!

Soriyamo had some injuries at this point. Blood was running down his left arm and from his nose. His legs and chest were bruised as well. "In that case, I should finish this fight sooner than later. I need to make it to the final round." Then, his power also began to rise. Lightning began to flicker around him, and with a yell, the golden aura around him flared and the lighting struck in all directions.

"Super Saiyan 2…" Dominick breathed.

"Just what kind of power does he really have in store?" Dalton muttered.

Soriyamo drew his sword again. "I'm finishing this now!" He declared. From the tip of his sword, a black energy ball began to form. Then, he fired. Waichei smiled as the ball approached him, but when it hit, his face went tense. It dragged him all the way to the edge of the ring. With a flick of Soriyamo's blade, it exploded, sending Waichei backward and out of the ring.

"WAICHEI IS OUT OF THE RING! SORIYAMO IS THE WINNER! HE WILL FIGHT KASAE IN THE QUARTERFINALS!" The crowd began cheering wildly for Soriyamo. He seemed to be their new favorite. When Waichei got up off the floor, it appeared that he had returned to his normal self. He didn't seem disappointed in the slightest. Dominick didn't know which side of him he found more disturbing.

However, there was something else that struck him, too. "Dalton, did you notice? Soriyamo's sword gives off a black energy." He told him.

"So?" Dalton inquired.

"Mine gives off a light blue energy." Dominick replied. "That means...even though our swords are identical, they have completely different powers."