Saras was getting impatient, the three-way combat was still going strong, but from down below, with the sun gleaming in the background the only idea anyone had as to what was going on was because of Chaonao's ridiculous commentary.
"Ouch! That should be illegal and oooooh that's just low! Two wrongs do NOT make a right!"
Understandably noone knew anything.
"Based on these three, I'd say Mulaohu has some good odds." Tianqi commented.
Duyao looked sceptical. "I assume you know her better, but I haven't seen her do much."
Tianqi looked disappointed. "Well, I suppose that makes the next task more interesting. As the saying goes 'don't keep all your biscuits in the brambles'."
"That is not an expression." Safi commented.
"Yes it is! It means to not show off everything you have at once!" Tianqi defended.
Badr was getting sick. Duyao hated him. Tianqi disliked him. Safi was bored. And Chaonao' s squawking was giving him a headache.
He stood up and clapped. He had power, he could use it. He would end this needlessly long fight, right there and then. Fireworks erfupted behind him, gaining the audience's attention, but not Chaonao's or the remaining fighters'.
Dianbo's face was swollen, Lang had a black eye and his tail was crooked and Reidak's jaw was slack and drooling. However, they were still going at it with all they had. Lang ploughed his face into Reidak's gut, the tiger's billy club hit Dianbo on the nose and the jackal's whip caught the red panda, and dealt him a lash on the buttocks. Lang responded by swinging his spear into Dianbo's legs, knocking the jackal to his side, where his whip hit Reidak's toe, the tiger's club then whacked Lang behind the head.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! SQUAWK! Fight! Fight!"
Badr's eye twitched in annoyance. How dare they ignore him! "Silence!"
Dianbo spin-kicked Reidak's leg, the tiger lost balance and fell on top of Lang, who then threw him up into the air, caught him by the tail and swung him into Dianbo. The jackal only managed to stay on the platform by wrapping his whip around the pole. He was sent skidding along the pole, Reidak's momentum hurling them around the platform and spinning him back into Lang, who grabbed hold of the jackal's tail. Unfortunately, the added weight was more than Dianbo's grip could take, and together they flew through the air, before falling down spectacularly.
Badr sighed. Well, at least that was one way to end it all.
"Aaaaaaaand down they go! So to recap, in first place we have Master Scalie Fattass!"
He was referring to Wong, who was absent-mindedly picking his nose.
"Master Dirty Robe!" Hong Ze looked less than impressed by his new nickname, though Naan and Ji Rou were both chuckling.
"Master Erection!" Han Guan grinned widely, as if there was no greater joy in being called that.
"The Flaming Fool!" Babirasu frowned.
"Brown Rabbit One or Two, can't tell them apart! SQUAWK!" It didn't help that Li I and Li II were walking arm in arm.
"Master Chongqing! Who-probably-would-have-lasted-longer-if-she-didn't-have-that-big-heavy-sword!" Mulaohu smiled anyways.
"The Furry Fattass!" Kunjingle responded to that with a well-said set of grunts, claps and whistles.
"The Hidden Faced Guy! Cause we can't have a tournament without at least one of them!" Ba's reaction was not visible to anyone.
"The Fish Out of Water!" Wugu grinned and waved with his fin.
"Master Mummy!" Now it was Hong Ze's turn to laugh at his companion's title.
"Master Fancy Pants!" Jiao'ao looked annoyed. He was not a fancy pants.
"Master Brush-tail!" Saras was secretly glad he had at least gotten a decent nickname.
"Master Broken Hoof! Master Tail-Yanker, Master Pant-Snatcher and Master Ladies Underwear!"
"Master Blackie!" Ji Rou expressed no emotion.
"And Masters Grumpy, Stripey and Whippy!" The trio were still locked together, though not in combat. Dianbo's whip had tightly wrapped around the trio, with Lang still holding Dianbo's tail, and Reidak sprawled over them both.
"And with that my dear folks, I must say goodbye! Until next time! SQUAWK!"
And with one more deafening roar came the crowd's approval.
Saras' impatience was mounting. The crowds were leaving, true, but the competitors were still in the arena, awaiting. Han Guan was still chatting with Wugu, while Ba scowled disapprovingly from a corner, or at least, Saras thought he was scowling. Babirasu was showing off for the Lis, juggling fireballs into the air, while the flames glittered off the rabbit's eyes. Kunjingle and Jiao'ao were having a conversation-or rather Kunjingle was talking and Jiao'ao was listening with a thoroughly confused look plastered to his face. Dianbo, Reidak and Lang were pulling themselves off of each other. Saras' foot was tapping impatiently, he wanted to get this over with. The sooner he could check out Badr's office, the better.
"Well done! Well done all of you!" Came Badr's voice, along with some polite clapping from him and his retinue. Safi was there, looking bored. Saras shifted his position a little to hide behind Wong, the last thing he needed now was to be the center of her attention. But there were two others. There was a frog and a horse he didn't know, the former scowling darkly, the latter grinning madly and throwing Mulaohu a hooves-up.
"Unfortunately, though you all fought valiantly, some of you have fallen and will not be proceeding further. Those of you that have failed, please leave."
Li II grinned and hopped away. Some of the competitors took it less gracefully. A wolf aimed a kick at Han Guan, and caught the wolverine on the leg, forcing him to land on his rump.
"Why you evil, ugly, yellow-belly!" Han launched himself at the wolf's legs, claws outstretched, but was held back by Kunjingle. The wolf laughed and walked away.
Pity found it's way into Saras' heart, along with more guilt. He had brought Han to shame and now the wolverine was nothing more than a joke. The shapeshifter held out his foot and watched with some satisfaction as the wolf fell on his face. The look of gratitude on Han Guan's face only made him feel guiltier.
Badr waited for the wolf to get up and start snarling at the fox, before coughing loudly and giving him a threatening look. He took the hint and left snarling.
The black cat acted like nothing at all had happened. "Now, the next task starts when I'm finished preparing for it. You shall stay at the Palace at all times, in case it starts abruptly. None of you are allowed to kill or harm each other in this period. If I see so much as a scratch on anyone the person responsible is disqualified imm-yes?" Wugu had raised a fin.
"What if it's self-inflicted?"
Badr's eye twitched, and then decided it would be best to ignore the question. "So, you may proceed back to the carts."
Finally, Saras thought, and he walked straight out. He picked a carriage and got in, and was quickly followed by Li I.
"Hiya!"
"Hello."
The rabbit stretched himself out on the seats opposite him, yawning widely. "So what do you think? Too easy?"
"Well, not exactly." In truth his paws were sore from clutching the rope.
Li shrugged. "I thought it was easy."
"But… Your brother was eliminated." Saras frowned.
Li I grinned widely. "Or was he?" He laughed at the confused look on the fox's face and sat up. "Okay Shifty, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, well it's not exactly a secret-I mean by now everyone already knows-in my village that is. Anyways... He's not my brother."
Saras blinked. Li I then added.
"Dun! Dun! Duuuuuuun!"
"B-but you and him you're-"
"Identical?" Li I laughed again. "We're the same person."
"But-ho-oh." Realization dawned on him. "Duplication Technique?"
"Yup! He is me and I am him." Li I replied, reclining against his seat, arms folded behind his head.
"How did you learn it?" Saras asked, slightly curious. "And why?"
"Because two of me is better than one, duh. And I read it in a scroll. It's pretty simple really." He gave a carefree shrug and silence descended. Until he broke it two seconds later. "So why are you competing?"
"I er-felt like it." Saras responded automatically. "What about you?" The fox asked, covering his tracks.
"It's a long story." Li I chuckled. "Like way, way, way, way, way too long to tell you." Saras nodded. Silemce descended again. Then the rabbit launched into his story. "So basically when I was young and innocent I lived with my mum and dad in this neat little place in a nice little village. But alas, 'twas not my destiny." He fainted dramatically, before bouncing back up. "One day the village was raided and destroyed. I got a pretty big bump on my head but survived. The Imperial Army found me and brought me to an orphanage. But that's not the end! I knew my dad was alive somewhere! All I had to do was find him. And to do that I decided to becone rich and famous! Muahahahaha!"
"That wasn't very long." Was all Saras had the heart to point out. He didn't ask about Li's mother, or point out that anyone could claim to be his father if Li was rich and famous.
Li shrugged. "What did you expect, a book? About me?" He seemed to be on the verge of laughing, until he said. "That's actually not a bad idea. I'll write an amazing book about me! Filled with Kung Fu action, banana smoothies and bad guys!" He was so excited he was standing on his seat and hopping up and down. After a while he seemed to calm down. "But it'll have to wait. After I win this tournament, I'm checking out Japan!"
If you win, but Saras left that unsaid. He liked the rabbit, even if he was overly optimistic. "Okay. Good luck I guess." Was all he could say.
"Thank you Shifty. Now, how about a card game?" And from out of nowhere he pulled out a large pack of cards.
"Sure." Just to pass the time until I can get into Badr's office.
Three hours later…
They sat facing away from each other, cards heaped in front of them. They were down to three each, now. Their eyes were narrowed as they stared at each other, the tension was so strong you could practically feel it. Then Li I slammed his cards down one by one on top of each other. "Kangaroo of Hearts, Jumbo of Clubs and Ant of Spades! Take that!"
Saras frowned and dropped his own cards. His Dog of Diamond, Fox of Hearts and Cat of Clubs had seemed like a pretty strong deck, then of course Li had managed a comeback.
He stretched himself, yawning. Then caught sign of the sun.
"What's the time?" He asked, suddenly aware of how much time he had wasted.
"No idea. Another match?" He offered, shuffling the deck without even looking at it.
"No, there's something I need to-"
"You have these in China too?" Came Han Guan's voice, from out of nowhere.
"Yup!" Li I said grinning. "You know Battai?"
"I love Battai Li-sama! I'm the only one in my clan who's any good at it!"
"Shifty move up, Han's playing too!"
"B-but I need to g-g-" He took one look at their pleading faces and sighed. He'd get the gem tomorrow. "Fine, let's play."
And so the cards were dished out.
Footnote: About time I updated something. Sigh, between getting a job and all my other fics to plan and write I almost forgot about this. So I'm back on track with a superior schedule now. To further paralel Back in the Day: The Tournament I'm going to start updating them together around twice a week. The Heist and Black and White get updated whenever I write them. Note this new process begins on December. I will try my best to keep to these guidelines to keep my readers entertained. There are still so many projects I want to do... But anyways for now just enjoy.