Chapter XLIX: The Rematch
"ALRIGHTY, THAT'LL DO IT FOR THE SECOND ROUND! WE'LL TAKE A SHORT BREAK BEFORE THE QUARTERFINALS, BUT HERE'S AN OVERVIEW OF THE LINEUP! FOR MATCH ONE: DOMINICK FISCALINI AND DALTON FISCALINI! FOR MATCH TWO: RARI ATSUMO AND YOSUHIRO MAKIE! FOR MATCH THREE: SHIRAKO YASUFUMI AND MARTIN LOZANO! FOR MATCH FOUR: KASAE ITSUMI AND SORIYAMO KAGEYOSHI! IF YOU NEED TO USE THE RESTROOM, GO NOW! THE FIRST MATCH WILL START IN TEN MINUTES!"
"Shirako…" Soriyamo called. "Can I ask for your help?"
Shirako peeked his head out of the back room. "You got yourself hurt."
"Yeah, can you heal me?"
"Of course." Shirako then saw Waichei walk into the break room. When Soriyamo got close, he whispered, "I told you, we can't trust that monster."
"I know who I can trust, Shirako."
"Why have you let someone like him live among us for all of these years?"
"You forget that I have only assumed command within the last two years." Soriyamo said under his breath. "The one who let him stay among us was...him." The two discreetly looked at Kasae, who was sitting in the back room, absolutely fuming.
"Well, let me heal your injuries for now." Shirako said after a sigh.
Sairyo was wandering around the break room like she was lost. She knew Kasae was in the back room, but didn't want to go back there. She was scared to face him.
Yosuhiro went outside to talk to Rari. Kaoren had fallen asleep on the couch and Nyoriyo had begun trying to talk to Sairyo, who wanted nothing to do with him. Waichei sat alone in the opposite corner from them. His lips were only slightly parted in a smile. The other fighters had all left already. There were seven people in the break room, three in the back room, and three out on the field; a total of thirteen people. Only eight of them were left in the tournament. Kaoren, Nyoriyo, Sairyo, Waichei, and Lisa had already been defeated, but they chose to stay, as if they were waiting for something. It made sense for most of them to stay. Kaoren, Nyoriyo, and Lisa were all good friends with Rari. Sairyo obviously wanted to stay until Kasae left. But why was Waichei still here? And why that smile? He was waiting for something. There was something that he was itching to see.
"So, are you guys actually going to fight?" Martin asked. "Like...all out?"
Dominick and Dalton both nodded. "Now that Soriyamo's gone Super Saiyan, I feel like we have to keep up." Dominick explained.
"He just wants to show off to Soriyamo." Dalton corrected.
"I want to get Soriyamo to show us his full power." Dominick retorted.
"We don't even know if he's strong." Dalton said.
"No, he's strong, for sure. Earlier, after Yosuhiro's match, do remember when Djara disappeared?" Dominick asked them.
"Ah...I don't remember. I don't think we watched that fight." Dalton said.
"The fact that you didn't sense it either confirms it." Dominick murmured. "That man...Kashito...he removed Djara from the arena. I barely even saw him. He was moving at a speed equal to Hotokira, and he was concealing his power at the same time."
"So he's really strong." Dalton replied. "That's good. It means the training from him will probably be worthwhile. What does it have to do with Soriyamo?"
"Remember when Kaoren said Soriyamo was the strongest in all of Otherworld? And then Nyoriyo said 'except for Kashito'? That implies…"
Martin caught on to Dominick's thinking. "It implies that Soriyamo is close to that kind of strength."
Dominick nodded. "And using that logic, it's possible that Soriyamo could be even stronger than Hotokira was."
"ALRIGHT, BREAK'S OVER! WE'RE STARTING THE QUARTERFINALS, NOW! DOMINICK AND DALTON FISCALINI, PLEASE ENTER THE RING!"
"Ten minutes already, huh?" Dominick said as he walked out the door without any hesitation.
Dalton swallowed. He wouldn't dare to back down, but something in him was holding him back. Some sort of lingering guilt still gripped at his throat. He followed Dominick onto the ring.
"ARE YOU READY?!" The announcer called. Dominick and Dalton nodded. The crowd grew louder. "BEGIN!"
"Well, Dalton?" Dominick said. "Shall we start out at full power?"
"Are we really doing this?"
Instead of answering, Dominick tightened his body, and with a yell, transformed into a Super Saiyan 5. Dalton still was not used to seeing the mixture of the golden hair with the red fur on his body. It was a form Dominick had discovered about four months ago during his battle with Shihebi. It was, in simple terms a combination of Super Saiyan 4 and a normal Super Saiyan. It was only possible because Super Saiyan 4 was not truly the fourth stage of Super Saiyan; it was only named that way for convenience. Super Saiyan 4 was actually just the controlled and hyper-compressed power of the Golden Oozaru, or Great Ape. Super Saiyan 5 was named the same way. Dominick was the first to achieve it, but Dalton and Martin followed close behind. Its discovery was the most challenging part of achieving that power.
Dalton also transformed into a Super Saiyan 5. Their power seemed to make the air heavy around them. Rari, Yosuhiro, and Lisa watched in awe as the golden aura enveloped nearly the whole ring. "I knew it." Rari breathed.
Nearly everyone left in the break room scrambled up to the window, to the door, or to any open space where they could see. Even Kasae was ran to the door, where Sairyo was. Shirako and Soriyamo remained in the back room, although Shirako was leaning back to see what was going on. Waichei's smile grew wilder in the corner. Soriyamo just closed his eyes and smiled. "Impressive, but as I thought," he muttered to himself, "you are still children."
Dominick smiled as he drew his sword. Are you watching, Soriyamo? The blue aura leaked off the back of the blade as it glowed white.
Dalton drew his sword as well. He let the flames swallow his body. The two lunged at each other. They were at a level higher than when they fought a month ago. Even Dalton, who had lost the powers granted to him by Hotokira, had surpassed those powers by himself. Their blades clashed and locked, releasing an 'X' shaped shockwave mixed with fire and white light. The heat radiated off of one another. They jumped back, then clashed again. They were taking it slow at first, however each strike had the intention of killing its target. They were fighting at full strength, but also had the power to refrain from any mortal blows. They were fighting to kill, but had the confidence that the other would survive. That's what this fight was. A real fight. A fight to the finish, where the finish wasn't death, but still a fight to the finish.
Each time they would clash, Dominick could see the red of the flames reflecting off of Dalton's face. Similarly, Dalton could see the blue from the aura of Dominick's sword reflecting off of his face. Although they recognized this contrast, the two of them saw it in completely different ways. Dominick saw each clash as a representation of their differences, and came to terms with it. The fact that they were in this tournament fighting each other was solid proof of their bond as brothers. Each time they clashed, Dalton was reminded of his weakness. He was constantly reminding himself of his weakness. The weakness that allowed him to be taken over by Hotokira. The weakness that caused them to clash blades for the first time. The weakness that caused them to clash hearts for the first time. His mind kept dragging him back to that. No matter how hard he clawed toward his friends' and family's forgiveness, he couldn't outrun his own mind.
"I guess we can't fight at full strength." Dominick said, pulling Dalton from those depths in his mind. "Both of our signature attacks can't really be used in a setting like this. Both your 'Jigoku Seppen' and my 'Light Blanket' are attacks of wide destruction, and will certainly end up killing many people if we use them here. We'll just have to make do without them." Dalton's "Jigoku Seppen" was a vertical aerial attack that created a giant wall of flames upon the downward swing of his sword, burning anything in its path in ash. Dominick's "Light Blanket" was the attack he used to deliver the final blow to Hotokira. It built up the white light in his blade and released it in the direction of the slash, cutting anything in its path. The light was essentially two dimensional, resembling a sheet of metal, or a blanket, hence its name.
"I guess so." Dalton replied. They lunged at each other again. Dominick thrust his sword forward toward Dalton's face. It was dodged, but not without leaving a bloody slit on Dalton's cheek. He stepped forward and slashed up and diagonal, scraping against Dominick's chest. Dominick swung his sword down and sliced a deep cut into Dalton's shoulder. Dalton jumped back and pointed his sword forward as the green and purple energy began swirling at its tip. "Galactic Cannonball!" He shouted. Dominick sliced right through the blast and the two halves exploded behind him. He gripped his hilt with both hands, and the blade's white shine became brighter until it was blinding. Everyone who was watching had to completely cover their eyes.
"This is what I lost to?" Kaoren muttered to himself. "What a waste...I want to fight him again."
The light shone into the back room as well. "What do you think, Soriyamo?" Shirako asked.
"Well...he's definitely the missing link. We can say that for sure, now."
"We pretty much knew when we saw his sword."
"We had no idea if it was the one that was missing, though. He could have stolen it from one of the Elemental Wielders."
"So we've seen all ten, then?"
"Not yet." Soriyamo said. "He has yet to call its name."
Rari shielded Lisa from the light. "What's that idiot doing?" He exclaimed. "Is he trying to blind everyone here?"
Lisa swallowed slowly. "That's definitely it." She said quietly.
The doorway cracked under Kasae's grip. Then, the light died down. Sairyo looked up at Kasae. "Are you okay?" She asked.
He gritted his teeth and closed his fist, the concrete of the doorway crumbling between his fingers.
Dominick was gone by the time Dalton could see again. "How…" Dalton started as he looked around. "How do you think you could fool me with this?!" He shot flames above him and Dominick reappeared, just barely avoiding the flames.
Staying in the air, Dominick shot an energy blast out of his sword, which Dalton stopped using all of his force, then redirected it back at his opponent. Dominick flew down, extinguished the blast he had fired, and punched Dalton in the face. His brother gritted his teeth and refrained from falling back. He retaliated by punching Dominick in the stomach. The battle became that of pride, and the loser was the one who first took a step back. They were in too tight of a range to use their swords, so they were either using their non-dominant hands or the hilt of their swords to do the attacking. However, the auras were still there. Now, that light-blue goo aura had completely extended to Dominick's whole body. They stood in the very center of the ring, a purple lining between the two of them where their auras collided. Both auras flared with each attack, rising to the height of the break room itself.
Their attacks were getting weaker as they became more fatigued. Nobody in the break room said a word. They were too captivated by the red and blue light shining and swaying in the ring. Dalton landed a solid hit on Dominick's face. His feet didn't move, but the rest of his body fell back. Dominick lay on his back while Dalton stepped toward him. The younger brother stuck his hand out, and an energy blast started to form in his palm. It was small; only enough energy to send him skidding out of the ring. Both of them were already beaten up enough and didn't need to take anymore damage. And from Dalton's perspective, he had already won. But that was a perspective the two of them did not share. Dalton felt the guilt creeping into his mind again, causing him to hesitate. Dominick saw the opportunity, put his index and middle finger to his forehead and disappeared. Instant Transmission.
Dalton looked above him where Dominick had teleported. "You hesitated there, Dalton." Dominick called down to him. "You're still letting your regret from the past hold you back. You're letting that weakness take control of your mind. You try to hide it from us, but you can't. Do you know why?"
Dalton took several steps back so he wasn't right under Dominick. "Why is that?"
Dominick pounded his chest. "Because we're friends! I couldn't care less if we have the same blood running through us or not; you, me, and Martin...we're family! And we're not going to let you separate yourself from this family because of your regrets! You have to take your weakness...and beat it into the ground!"
There it was. That feeling of admiration that he had forgotten over the past events. That's right. He thought to himself. Not only Dominick, but Gogito...and even Piccolo. All these years...my reason to get stronger wasn't to surpass them...it wasn't to beat them down… A long forgotten flame lit in Dalton's soul. I wanted to fight alongside them. I wanted… "I WANTED TO FIGHT BACK-TO-BACK, LIKE BROTHERS! ALL THREE OF US!" The flames around him started morphing into a shape resembling a serpent. No. Those weren't the flames. Those were his very soul, manifesting around him.
"There we go." Dominick murmured with a smile. "Finally, you were honest with yourself."
Dalton let out a battle cry as he launched up at his brother. Dominick dove down at Dalton, his left arm extended his chest and his blade extended down parallel to his back. The two approached each other and when they met, a wave of Dalton's fire aura engulfed Dominick's body and a wave of Dominick's light-blue aura engulfed Dalton, creating a beautiful two-petaled purple flower above the ring.
From the center of the flower, two bodies fell down to the tile floor of the ring. One could have heard a pin drop into the grass if they were listening. Even the announcer was too stunned to call out that both fighters were down, and neither of them seemed likely to get up anytime soon. But that call wouldn't be necessary.
Dominick groaned as he moved his arms out of the crater he had created from falling. His arms wouldn't stop shaking as he tried to push himself up. He first sat up, then took a breather. Then, he took a deep breath, and with veins practically popping out of his head, he used all the strength left in his legs to stand upright. The dust around them settled. He looked down. How he still had his sword in hand, he had no idea. Then, he looked at Dalton. He was unconscious. It looked like he was fast asleep.
He suddenly felt extremely woozy, and started falling forward. He jabbed his sword in the tile and let some of his weight fall on that. He rested his head on the back of the hilt. Then, he looked over at the announcer, who was still frozen in shock. "Hey, announcer…" He managed. "It's been ten seconds since I got up...so hurry and say that I won. I can't stand for much longer…"
The mushroom man shook himself out of his daze suddenly. "DALTON IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE FIGHTING! DOMINICK IS THE WINNER OF THIS INCREDIBLE MATCH!"
The crowd went wild. Dominick put his head back on his sword and chuckled. "He had me scared there...for a little...bit…" The tiles started spinning, and then everything faded to black.
