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Chapter 9: The Beatdown

"Hey, that Ecakrad guy is up next," remarked Finn, as the group then stared at the arena grounds. After Tokage and Kuroi's battle, they were excited from how the contest was turning out. Besides, this guy was second place in the preliminaries; and with one point under Aerrow, this guy could have tied with the young sky knight. It would be amazing to see how this guy might advance to the next round if he does.

The hooded man entered the arena, staring at the crowds in the stand. Under his hood, he smirked evilly, knowing that these fools had no idea what they had coming. But in the spirit of competitiveness, he would play by their rules… To a point. Once hearing the slamming of the door, he turned to his opponent; the final Roc brother, with his huge claymore.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!!!!!" yelled the announcer, causing the local brawler to head towards his competitor. The other just stood there, watching the bigger man run at him with his weapon held high. Now, everyone knew something was wrong when the cloaked figure stood there. Their fears were realized when he gave a swift, yet bone-crushing punch into the other man's gut.

The crowd gasped and then went silent as they watched their friend stumbled away from the man before falling back, unconscious. Ecakrad just stood over him, wanting to savor the failure of his challenger. Afterwards, he took off the bandana and just stomped it on the ground. A second later, the audience was now booing at hooded male just stood there with pride in his victory.

As the mass continued to jeer, Piper just raised an eyebrow and asked, "I don't get it. He defeated his opponent. Why are they jeering him?" Even though she agreed with them, it didn't seem fair to boo him. Besides, weren't these people fighting-fanatics?

"Piper, three of their locals were in this contest and now, it's just us and anyone else who isn't from this terra." explained Dawne, looking at the man with fear. For some reason, there was something about him that didn't sit right with her. "Besides, if you considered how crazy these locals are about their brawls, that was a bit anticlimactic." It was true, punching a guy in the stomach and then letting him collapse over seemed a little unimpressive to them.

A moment of silence followed, before Rufus got up and said, "Well, I'm off. I'm heading to that fight with that Vezeel gal." He seemed pretty laid back about his first match after the preliminaries. Of course, if he knew who he was really facing, he would have stepped it up a notch. After all, if a person was in it to win it, there was no room for mistakes.

"You better be careful, Rufus." warned Jack, "Since you're also representing Earth, I want our chances of getting whatever the prize is to be a high one." Whatever they were giving out, it might have been something to help the colonists settle into this new world.

"Relax, Jack. She seems real easy to beat." The orange-haired man said, before leaving. The others watched, wondering how someone could underestimate someone who was in the top four. Stork, being the downer that he was, said the only thing that seemed to do his best to set his mood.

"Oh yea, he's doom."

Vezeel tapped her fingers along her arm, waiting for the opponent to show up. 'He's sure taking his time,' she thought, while listening to the crowds. It seemed that her boss had definitely meant using those stones after seeing him punched the local. Even though she had done more devastating things, she had to admit that was pretty brutal.

Hearing the doors opened, the Eurlian woman looked to see that Gaian man, Rufus, entered to the door, with a knife in his hand. So, she had an easy opponent - this was an interesting twist. Maybe, being the nice person that she was, she would go easy and play with him for a little bit.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!" The two fighters heard the signal before approaching each other in a careful fashion. Then, they started to circle each other, waiting for one of them to attack first. A minute later, the blue-haired woman smirked, coming up with a trick that would let his guard down.

"Hey, hunny," she said in her flirty voice, "How 'bout after this match, we go out for beer? My treat." Normally, Rufus didn't care about going on a date with anyone. But when he heard the key term, beer, he felt his heart jump for joy.

"Really?" he asked, letting his hands down. And that's was the time that he got punched twice in face. He felt dizzy, now seeing three Vezeels instead of the normal one he was fighting. Either he was dizzy, or that woman had learned how to clone herself during the fight. "Hey… You tricked me - that's not fair."

"All's fair in love and war," the woman said, before kicking him in the stomach, "And this is kinda like a war." The Gaian held his stomach while staggering around the arena. He never knew how hard it was to fight without his guns before. But he wanted to win; he and Jack were the only chances to winning whatever that prize was for the PFE.

The man stood up and threw a punch at the blue-haired woman...only to be caught by her hand and then her holding it tight, making him cringed. Next, she put her foot on one of his legs and started to twist his arm to the point where he could feel the bone coming out of his socket.

"You know, if you say pretty please and surrender, I can leave some of your manly dignity intact," Vezeel taunted, causing the man to growl. There was no way he was surrendering now. He was a shoulder, and as thus, he was used to this kind of torturing pain. Of course, she was doing it a little harder than what he was used to.

"No way, missy. Unlike you, me and Jack are in it for the civilians we're protecting," Rufus answered, showing in his face that he was in pain. However, instead of frowning, the Eurlian smirked evilly. Next, she pushed him to the ground and did some moves that were too hard to describe in words. Oh, it wasn't because it was too gruesome for young minds to comprehend - it was because it showed a man losing his pride.

Everyone in the stadium either covered their eyes or just watched with gapping mouths at what the woman did to the man. It was embarrassing, especially for Jack who had selected him for this mission. Oh well, at least his opponent was letting him live…with only a smidgen of life hanging left.

Vezeel took off Rufus' bandana and then held it up in the air, causing the crowds to cheer. This definitely made their day after that last battle. While they cheered, Jack looked over at George, who had received the message the half vampire made with his face.

"… I'll go get the first aid kit," the Britain said before getting up and walking away. As the group watched him leave, they turned their heads back to Rufus, who was now awake and barely crawling back to the entrance. This scared them, especially Emma. She was now having second thoughts on fighting the last match.

"… You know what guys," she started before sinking into her seat, "I'm just going to stay here and let Scabs win. Going to the Mana Pools ain't worth my life." The others just stared, not either shock or disappointed. It was her choice; whether they like it or not. Of course for Stauffenburg, this didn't seem right to him.

"Vhy are you giving up before you even fight?!" he questioned, standing up and pointing his finger at her, "You may be un frauline, but you are un human! You are better than that overgrown pirate! And you show your proud human pride to him in battle!"

After hearing that argument, the young Gaian looked over at the older man and said, "Dude, pride is a deadly sin, especially pride in thinking a certain quality makes people better than others. Why else did we have a second world war? … Or does Germany teach that after they lost?" Not noticing the rage in his eyes, the girl was then grabbed by the colonel and then dragged away from the rest. The others watched as she struggled against the man's grip, but it was to no avail.

"… Should we help her?" asked Aerrow, a little concerned for one of his friend's well-being. As much as he knew that Eric and Emma were from the same world, he didn't know why the two were in conflict except for the fact that they disagreed on human status in the species hierarchy. But other than that, should they be like buddy-buddy now?

Jack just looked at the red head and answered, "He won't hurt her. The worse he might do is going to do is forcing her to fight… Hopefully, she's as good as you say she is." This caused the Storm Hawks to worry a bit; they haven't seen Emma truly in action to support their claim other than her sparring match with Harrier. Thinking optimistically, they just trusted that she'll do better than last time.

"… At least we'll go to the Mana Pools still if she fights," commented Tokage, really excited to see her fight. She had heard that the brunette was a good fighter and now, the Dragonkin would see her in action. This was going to be an interesting last match in the round.

Emma landed flat on her face as Eric threw her into the arena. 'Oh great, I just hope that pirate doesn't remember about this fight…' she thought, before getting up. That's when she saw him, staring at her with a malevolent smile. She laughed hesitantly, thinking why she made her question to Eric sounded like an insult.

"Ready… FIGHT!!!" Once hearing that, the two started to advance towards the middle, one being more cautious than the other. She knew she wasn't on the same level as her opponent. So, she needed to come up with a plan to at least survive, or she could end up in the hospital.

The good captain started to examine her when the fighters to circle around each other like wolves in a pack-fight. "So… We finally meet again in battle, to finish what we started on that ship." he taunted, referring to the battle they had last time on the Condor. There was no doubt she had gain a little experience after that event. "Unfortunately… I won't be giving you the special treatment like last time." he sneered, before taking out his sword and activating the crystal. That's right; he didn't use his sword last time. Now, she felt like dead meat.

Once the Murk Raider started to swing his sword at the Gaian, she went into a dodging stance. Every time he swung, she would try to move out of the way. Once the crowd took notice of this strategy, they got bored of the swing-and-miss dance. Even some started to complain on how she should fight back. Kuroi was one of the ones who weren't impressed.

"… Didn't you say Emma was a good fighter?" the black-scaled lizard asked, giving Aerrow a glare. He really did want to see the girl at her full ability. But from the way he was seeing, she seemed to be holding back when she should be fighting with everything she's got.

The red head just sweatdropped and answered, "Well, we know she is. We only saw her fight… Once. And she kinda lost…" For some reason, that definitely didn't brighten up the Dragonkin's expression. "… But we do know she was in a lot of scuffles and she did okay with coming out fine… As far as we know…" Come to think of it, they never really questioned how she got out of those. Maybe she wasn't as great a fighter as they thought.

Back down at the arena floor, Scabulous was getting bored of the dodge thing as well. So, he taunted, "Come on, girly. I bet you really want to give me a real good punch after all the hell I put you through. Like the time I put my pistol up to your slim neck." Emma felt angry remembering that moment, but shook it off. He was trying to get her angry so she could do something stupid and get killed for it.

"I'm not that stupid." she said back, in a tired voice, "I know you're going to attack me when I make a move at you, you're going counter-strike. And I think I could get something fatal since I'm not wearing armor nor do I have a weapon to block with." Oh, so that was the problem. It was time for this pirate to teach her a lesson.

"You think? Kid, this is a fight! Thinking may be a factor, but it is small compare to using instincts!" he said, before getting ready to swing his sword again. For this, the girl was about to jump back until he spoke, "And since I know you're going to dodge another normal strike, I'm doing this instead." The Raider swung his sword, but instead of hitting the teen with the sword itself, it shot out a purple, energy slash, nearly neigh impossible to dodge. She got hit, falling back and getting a little dizzy. The crowd sympathized with her.

Once Emma shook off her wooziness, she now stared at an oncoming stab and quickly moved her body to the side. She was about to get up until another sword swing made her fall back down. She gulped; this was it. There was nothing she could, but she could distinctly hear a small voice in her head was at least telling her to fight back. It was either that or the crowd yelling really loud that could break anyone's ear drum.

Suddenly, the girl just snapped. This burning emotion she felt was exactly the same as when she fought against Repton. While the pirate was about to strike her again, she quickly stood up and when the two were face to face, she punched him in the stomach. He stumbled back whilst she held her hand in pain. 'God, that smarts!' she thought, before hearing some laughter. The teen went back into her fighting-form turned her body towards her opponent, only to see him smiling; bad sign.

"That's it! That's what I want to see!" Scabulous said, before standing straight. Afterwards, the two started to duke it out, the girl dodging still but throwing a punch or a kick whenever she could. Now, this was the fight people wanted to see in the last match. The crowd started to cheer with excitement as the fighters continued their little brawl. Even the group was now cheering for the human to win.

It was at the few last moments that got really surprising. They didn't know how it was pulled off since the teen looked pretty tired, but it happened. Once seeing a break in defense, she threw a punch at the Raider with all her might, aiming at the chest. He took notice and squat down for a dodge-and-slash at her mid-section. Unfortunately, it was a little late, and instead of missing completely, she whammed him right in the face with striking force. The captain flew back a little and landed on his back, looking dazed from the hit. Emma went back to her usual stance before gulping. Knowing that she was going to pay for this sooner or later, she just stood there before saying, "Eep."

The crowd took notice of this defeat, and seeing her in a daze state, they yelled, "GET THE SASH!!!!" She snapped out of her dread, and then she carefully walked over to the knocked-out pirate, being cautious of whatever he was hiding up his sleeve. Once reaching an inch away from the body, she bent down, warily removing the sash until it was safe to say that the figure was of no threat. After getting it, she held the symbol for the tournament, causing the crowd to cheer once more. She couldn't help but smile - she was proud of her achievement, even though it was a fluke.

Scabulous woke up and stared up at the human who had beaten him. Now, to those who knew of his nature, he would have grabbed her and taken her back to her ship. But he just simply stood up and left for the locker room...there were too many witnesses anyway. Getting to the room, he went into shock into seeing who was there. Why was that woman, whom he had scuffles with before, here now?

"Hmph, so the great pirate is even beatable to a small, Gaian girl," Tadeh solemnly said, causing the pirate to growled in response. He didn't have time for whatever this woman had to say; he had better things to do. She just shrugged before stating, "You know you could have won if you didn't go easy on her."

The captain smiled, seeing that someone has seen through his ruse, and told her, "I didn't want to damage the goods. Besides, why win something when you can steal it instead?" The woman just smirked at his statement, just like a thief to think like that. "Now, with that settle, what do you want with me?"

The Eurlian just stood there in silence before saying, "Nothing much… Just wanted to see the look on your face when you lost." This caused the Raider to become anger as she left the locker room. Oh well, he will get his chance. And soon, not only will he have the prize and the Gaian, but he will also have the other treasures that this terra had.

Emma walked out of the locker room, only to be tackled by almost everyone except for the other Gaians and the fox demon. She cringed; feeling those scars' aftermath as the group hugged her tightly. She made it out fine and they were still had the same look on their faces when she was dodging. Why did people worry about her even when she was older than them? … In a way, with some of them.

"Emma! You did it! You won!" praised Tokage as she hugged the brunette, "… Even though you seem that you didn't know what you were doing in the beginning." The human laughed hesitantly; she wanted to figure out how these rumors of her being a good warrior get started. At least it wasn't going to get any worse.

Unfortunately, that thought didn't prove true when Vireo blurted out, "Yea, for a Gaian, you sure act a little different than the warriors that first tried to conquer Atmos." The group turned with shock at what the fox demon just said; the Storm Hawks more-so than the others. He blinked before saying, "Well, she does smell the same as the other Gaians and she is wearing strange clothes." The others looked back at the older teen, who was as pale as a sheet as she stood there. So, that meant that what he said was true.

There were several seconds of silence between everyone as they looked away nervously. They had mixed emotions on her secret and were also thinking about why she kept it from them. Azure the merb was the only one who walked up to her and opened the human's mouth with her hands. The blue merb started to examine her mouth before saying, "S-She doesn't have that disease/poison sack that the elders always talked about."

With that stated, Emma went into a paralyzed shock until the group swarmed her by touching her body and asking her a ton of questions. It was almost enough to drive anyone nuts. As she was bombarded, the other Gaians watched, confused by how the local-worlders were reacting to her like this. The only one who seemed to have an answer was George.

"Maybe it's because she kept it a secret from them…I don't know why though, these people are very friendly," the British boy said, raising an eyebrow at the metaphorical carnage going on. After a few seconds, the group sweatdropped and the brunette said, "… Maybe we should help her out."

Jack looked at the younger and said, "You guys help her. I need to do something here." The three men nodded before heading off to get her out of the mob. Once they were out of hearing distance, the half vampire looked into the shadows and asked, "What do you think?" Suddenly, another man, well pass his prime, came out of the darkness, wearing black trench coat over a black uniform. He was a little bit taller and buffer than the American with black hair that was streaked with white that was covered by a baseball like cap with a hammer and sickle inside a red star, and cold blue eyes. On his face, there was a scar running down to his right cheek. He just stared at the other with an icy look on his face.

After a second, he breathed in and said, in a little bit of a Russian accent, "Well, it seems we have some powerful allies after seeing them fight on the field. It looks like we have chosen the right side after all." Afterwards, he looked back at the mob and stated, "But I'm not sure if they trust us being here."

"The entire world may not trust us, but these people do; even if this so-called "myth" is true or not," the younger man said, looking at the mob as well. He still didn't know what the story between his home world and Atmos was anyway. But he did hope that it wouldn't put a damper on relations. "… Other than that, anything else, Ingo?"

The Russian man, Ingo, looked at Jack and spoke, "Yes, Jack, you should be very careful… There have been sightings of a man resembling Hawk around here. And since you and the other helped defeated his army, he might come after you, along with anyone else in leagues with us."

… Well, that put a damper on his day.

Author's Notes:

Again, sorry for the wait. It IS getting close to summer after all. But I'll still try my best to post the new chapters as soon as possible.

So, this is the end of the 1st round and there is going to be another break like I did a few chapters ago! If any of you guys have some ideas of what will happen, please send them to me and I'll review over to see which ones will be good and put them up.

Also, thank you Hawk Masters, SakariWolfe, Flame Soldier, azdx, and Kitten2007 for reviewing! And for NekoNekoMinako for editing this chappy. You guys are great! Confetti for all!

Please Read and Review!