"Competitors Okara and Ayumu may now enter the arena!"
Okara glared intensely at his opponent, as Ayumu quickly reformed his hand back into a fist, making sure no one would notice. The saiyan, however, didn't buy it. He knew now that his competitor was hiding something, which was most likely a weapon, so he thought. Ayumu put his book down and nervously began walking to his hallway. Before he could get any farther, Okara called out to him.
"Ayumu."
The blonde-haired fighter jumped a little in surprise. He turned around. "Y-Yeah…?" Okara tried reading Ayumu's facial expression to see any hint or sign that he had something up his sleeve. This, however, led to nothing; the kid's face was nervous, with sweat and a frightened expression covering it.
"…Good luck."
Ayumu took a big gulp. "O-O-Okay…"
The two competitors walked into their respective hallways. On his way to his side, Okara glanced at Tyriko, and their sights connected. They both silently nodded to each other, and then Okara proceeded to walk out.
They both walked outside and onto the arena. "IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE OKARA, AND IN THE RIGHT, AYUMU! THESE TWO ARE THE MOST UNPREDICTABLE FIGHTERS WE HAVE IN THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR! WE HAVE BASICALLY NO INFO ON EITHER OF THEM, SO THIS FIGHT SHOULD BE INCREDIBLY INTERESTING! WHAT WE DO KNOW, HOWEVER, IS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE TRIFLED WITH! AYUMU, WHO EVERYONE THOUGHT WOULD LOSE EASILY TO ASHIK, MANAGED TO BEAT HIM SOMEHOW! AND OKARA DEFEATED IZUMI IN HIS OWN ROUND, WHICH IS NO EASY FEAT IN ITSELF! THE BATTLE BETWEEN THESE TWO MYSTERIOUS FIGHTERS IS SURE TO ENTERTAIN!"
Okara, once again, simply stared Ayumu down, trying to observe every one of his actions. Seeing this, Ayumu was even more put off and got more nervous. This didn't faze the saiyan. Don't underestimate him, don't underestimate him… he repeated to himself in his head. He wasn't going to hold much back, even if it was the beginning.
"LET THE SIXTH ROUND… BEGIN!"
Okara immediately rushed right next to his opponent and punched him right in his face. The blond-haired fighter fell to the ground, and began crying, much like before. Okara didn't buy it, however. The saiyan rushed at his opponent while he was on the ground. This actually caught Ayumu by surprise- he stopped crying and instead sported a look of shock. He probably thought I was going to give him time to recover and take me out like he did Ashik! This is my chance! thought Okara. While the audience was booing him, Okara's only goal was to win. However, Ayumu still had time to react. Instead of creating smoke with his ki using his palms on the ground, Ayumu raised up both of his hands up to Okara. He held two orbs of ki. What?! He's going to blast me in front of everybody?!
But, Ayumu acted differently. Instead of shooting the orbs, the two balls simply exploded, creating a field of dark smoke that once again cloaked the entire arena. This temporarily blinded Okara, but he wiped his eyes. He was not ready to lose; the saiyan was intent on beating Ayumu. However, the smoke in addition to Ayumu having absolutely no power level made that hard for Okara; he just couldn't sense him. But Okara heard a voice.
"So… Okara."
His voice was different. It was definitely Ayumu's voice that he heard, but it was vastly changed from the nervous, anxious voice that Okara had previously came from Ayumu's mouth. His current voice's tone was cold; it was metallic, monotone, and almost lifeless.
"Have you figured it out already? What I am?"
Okara fired in the direction where he heard the voice come from, but nothing seemed to hit. What made it hard was how it came from all over; it was as if Ayumu was surrounding him somehow and talking to him at the same time. If he wasn't trained to be mentally strong, Okara might have actually been afraid.
"I'm not certain, but I have a pretty good idea. For one, you're definitely not who you say you are."
"Correct. However, that is your limit on the information you have obtained from me, is that right?"
Okara realized that he wouldn't get anywhere firing stray shots at someone he couldn't detect. "Possibly. But, if that were truly the case, could you tell me what you are? That is, of course, if you're not too much of a coward to do so."
"Oh, you simple minded saiyan," replied Ayumu. "You have to understand that adhering to my emotion will not work. However, I will partially oblige. All you need to know is that I am not human. I do not eat or drink like a human, as I do not need to eat or drink. I do not think like a human, I process information. I do not feel like a human, because I was not made to feel."
"Why do you look like one then? What are you, if you're not a human?"
"That I cannot tell you," stated Ayumu monotonously. "My employer will not want me telling that information."
"What? Someone hired you?"
"'Hired' is the wrong definition."
"What are you here for then? Why did you even participate in the tournament to begin with?"
"That information is classified. All I can say is that my motive to joining the tournament was not to win. It was something else."
"Hmph." Okara thought all of the information that he's gained on Ayumu over, but there was one last inquiry he had for Ayumu. "Last question."
"Proceed."
"Why the hell are you telling me all of this?" asked Okara. "I'm assuming you want to keep up your façade of being a scrawny weakling, so why tell me? After this fight, I could easily tell everyone else about what you are and what you've told me, and then you'll be exposed. So then why?"
"Simple. I can black-mail you back. If you tell on me, then I will go on to act as if I was mortally injured by you during our fight. No one will be able to perceive what will happen during this fight, so I will easily be able to pretend as if I was incredibly hurt by you. This will then lead to everyone, including the world government, believing that you, as an alien saiyan, could be a menace to society. They would not want to take any chances, and they would prohibit you from seeing the rest of your race. Your intent on joining this tournament was to reunite with your race, was it not? So tell me, which statement would they believe: that a weak-looking human boy is actually somewhat powerful and not a human entirely, or that a new, mysterious, and intimidating alien is dangerous?"
How the hell did he know about my goal?! The only person I've told about it was Gonkuro, and he definitely didn't seem to know anything about Ayumu either! "Hmph. Fair enough, I guess."
"Now then… Shall we proceed with our fight?"
Out of nowhere, Ayumu came rushing out of the shadows. Having no power level, Okara couldn't sense him or see him coming, and so he got hit with a big haymaker to his face, sending the saiyan barreling towards one end of the arena. However, he quickly snapped out of it, and used his ki to make himself float still in the smoky air. Okara flew back down to his original fighting position.
Damn… This guy hits hard!
Again, Ayumu came flying out of the smoke; however, Okara took this chance to learn from his attacker. He got hit again, and immediately stabilized himself, preventing him from falling off the stage. His sturdy Borean frame certainly helped him with that, but he also learned something after he got hit. Ayumu, while having no ki, makes some sound whenever he lunges to attack me… I can hear it, just barely. He's also much more powerful than me at my base, so…
Once again, Ayumu leaped towards Okara. This time, the saiyan heard him coming.
I'll have to make up for it!
Swiftly, Okara boosted his ki fifty-fold, making his hair spiky and bright yellow and turning into a super saiyan. He used his immediate increase in speed to catch Ayumu's arm as he flew by, and flipped him over, making him land on his back onto the hard arena floor. Ayumu, however, didn't react in the slightest; his face was indifferent, emotionless. Once on the floor, Okara tried got on top of his chest and began pounding on his face. The saiyan hit the floor-bound fighter over, and over, and over again, but still, Ayumu didn't seem to react at all. His face was beginning to get extremely scratched up, yet he was still indifferent.
"You give up yet? Or do I have to make your face look even worse?"
Ayumu smiled coldly. "No. Not yet."
And that was when Okara had realized it. His battle ki was dropping, and dropping quickly. He was beginning to feel more and more tired, but it wasn't because he was using too much of his energy…
It was because it was being drained.
Okara turned his head to look behind him. Ayumu was grasping Okara's legs that were on his body. The saiyan could feel his energy being drained from that very spot. With a jerk of his hands, Okara began to blast Ayumu in the face while flying out of his reach at the same time. This worked, and so he flew back and landed on a different side of the arena. He was breathing heavily.
For a moment, after nothing had occurred, Okara thought he had won the fight. But it was far from over. Near the same position in which he was just previously at, another large cloud of smoke formed, covering the arena in yet another layer. Okara realized that the old one had nearly faded, and so Ayumu most likely created another layer to disguise himself even more. Whatever Ayumu was, he didn't want the public to know about his identity. But Okara was okay with this; the saiyan wanted to win fairly.
Out of the smoke, Ayumu flew at Okara again. They were both ready for each other's attacks this time, and so they engaged in a direct hand-to-hand fight. Okara relied on the fighting skills he had learned from the nigh-omniscient Boreans, using his strong defense to his advantage and taking hits from Ayumu to deliver stronger ones back. However, Ayumu's martial arts skilled were unusual. The mysterious fighter mainly used grapples and holds, making use of his open hands instead of fists. This however, lead to Okara discovering what were in his palms.
Okara saw a round, circular semi-dome protruding from the center of each of his palms. It was very odd, as it looked very unnatural on the blonde-haired kid, as if it was grafted onto his skin. This, however, was what led Okara to discovering why Ayumu used the fighting style that he did. These circular attachments… They absorb my ki, as shown when Ayumu grabbed onto my legs with his palms. So… it would only make sense for Ayumu to use grappling techniques! Normally, grappling wouldn't be very useful in a martial arts fight, as it doesn't do much damage. However, with his ki absorbing palms, he can reduce my ki while also putting me into a hold! So that means…
After they traded a couple more blows, Okara cartwheeled backwards to gain some distance, and then changed his fighting pose into a different one. It was the exact same that his previous foe had used against him. He got into a fighting stance that resembled a crane.
That means I just have to evade his attempts at grappling me, and then counterattack!
"Saiyan. I commend your strategy, but I'm afraid it will not work. You simply do not have the experience and training necessary to be effective with that style of fighting," stated Ayumu indifferently.
"Oh yeah? You want to come at me and test that hypothesis of yours?"
"I do not see a reason not to."
Ayumu rushed at Okara once again, using the same grappling techniques. But this time, instead of letting him hold on and hitting him back, Okara dodged it. While his form wasn't so graceful, he managed to get the job done, and the saiyan struck back immediately with a copy of Izumi's pressure point attack. He managed to hit Ayumu, but the blonde-haired fighter didn't seem to be affected by it all too much. Instead of flinching in pain, he hit Okara back in the stomach, making the saiyan gasp for air.
"It is proven. My hypothesis was correct."
Okara yelled in defiance, and got back up into taking that same fighting stance. However, after Ayumu had tried to grapple Okara, the same event repeated itself. Okara dodged and counterattacked, but instead of hurting his opponent, he simply got hurt back.
"Would you like to know where you went wrong, saiyan?"
Okara, in frustration, lunged at Ayumu this time, coming at him with a barrage of pressure point attacks. This was futile, however. Ayumu dodged most of them, with the ones that hit not doing much to any damage, and he struck Okara many times, making the saiyan fall nearly onto the ground. Okara took a knee while Ayumu towered above him. Ayumu then began lifting Okara by the throat, absorbing his ki as he did.
"You think that this one style of fighting will give you the complete edge over me. However, you are sorely mistaken. Firstly, you are not even close to mastering that style. You are incredibly sloppy when using it, making it much easier for me to hit you and less easy for you to dodge. To add onto that, your rage has blinded you. If you were level-headed like you usually are, then you would have seen that your pressure point attacks did absolutely nothing to affect me. Half of them did not hit my pressure points, but even the ones that did hit felt like nothing."
Okara was getting close to passing out, but he paid attention to what Ayumu said. He smirked. "Heh… Thanks for telling me. I'll be sure to improve next time."
With a burst of light, Okara yelled and surrounded himself in a circular field of ki. This field expanded rapidly, bursting outwards in a small explosion and sending Ayumu flying away. This blast didn't hurt Ayumu that much, but it did give Okara an easy way of escape out of the emotionless fighter's grasp. Okara then powered up even more and increased his ki.
"And… by next time, I meant now. I've only been fighting at around 70% of my full power. Now… this is my 100%!"
His ki shot up in a straight spike. He glowed a bright and powerful shade of gold, making the smoke around him ripple.
"Not only that, but now I know how to beat you. I'll just have to use the dodging techniques of the crane style in tandem with my own, strong counterattacks instead of pressure point attacks. So… can you feel it, Ayumu…? The foreboding, overwhelming, full power of a super saiyan?!" Okara exclaimed with a smile.
Ayumu smiled confidently. "I can certainly feel it. The true question is whether it is as overwhelming as you say it is. To be honest, I am feeling quite the opposite. I am underwhelmed."
Okara scowled. "Alright… If it's hard for you to feel it over there, why not up close then?!"
The saiyan charged at his cold opponent, using his own strong attacks to deal damage, and using the style of dodging exhibited by Izumi. Although the plan made sense in his head, it wasn't very effective in gaining the upper hand on his opponent. He was doing much better than before, but he was still getting beaten. Ayumu used quick, instant punches and then followed them up with holds. The blonde-haired fighter's attacks seemed to be doing much more than the saiyan's all-out barrage.
Okara, after getting hit another time, backed up. "H…How? How is this possible?!"
Ayumu smirked. "Simple. Your ki has diminished over time. Your excessive usage of your own ki coupled with my rapid absorption of it leaves you with little to be spared. You, Okara, while at 100% right now, is less than 60% of what your ki could be if you hadn't used up all of it."
"What?! No! That can't be true!" Damn it! I'm such an idiot! I should have been more aware of my ki usage! Now… now I'm done for. It's ov-
No… no it isn't. Not yet. I still have one technique that'll make me win for sure… but I can't use too much of it. I need to save at least a little for Shorts.
"This match is finished. Prepare to be eli-"
"No, it isn't."
"Oh?" Ayumu said monotonously. "What is it?"
The outline of the bright, yellow, super saiyan ki that covered his whole body had begun to change color. Instead, the outline turned into a shade of pale-yellow that encompassed Okara's whole body. Now the saiyan had two auras; his super saiyan aura, and now this pale yellow one.
"You're not the only one with the ability to absorb ki, Ayumu!"
The scarlet-palmed warrior finally changed his expression. He was a little bit shocked. "What do you mean, exactly?"
Okara laughed. "Remember the last fight I had with Izumi? The more she hit me, the more ki she fed me! While you don't give me a lot of power when you hit me, Izumi had a whole lot of unused, excess ki that she gave off with every single punch she threw! Call if kinetic energy or ki that came from her aura, I don't care. What matters now is that I still have this whole batch of unused, new ki that Izumi gave me. But… that's not all. The last blast she fired at me contained so much energy, even I was overwhelmed by it. But that energy… it went directly to me! I absorbed it! Now, with the power of her blast and kinetic energy added to my own super saiyan ki…"
"THERE'S NO TELLING HOW FAR MY POWER GOES!"
The pale-yellow aura surrounding his own super saiyan aura instantly became exponentially bigger. This caused Ayumu to smile once more. "Hm. How intriguing." He fired a large cloud of smoke, replacing the old layer that was wearing down. "Let us see this power, then."
"RRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!"
With all of his might, Okara rushed down Ayumu using power and speed alone. The saiyan was angry and desperate; if he was going to win this fight, he was going to have to win now. Okara was exaggerating his own power in an attempt to frighten Ayumu, but it seemed to not work. So, the saiyan's only option left was to beat him in a fair fight before he ran out of his absorbed ki.
The absorbed ki added on to his own more than made up for his lack of energy, however. Okara put Ayumu on the defensive, making each punch hit extremely hard. All Ayumu could do was block; Okara was just too fast and too powerful to risk taking hits from. Like Shorts to Gonkuro, Ayumu was planning on tiring Okara out. The saiyan, however, recognized his strategy.
"You really think I'd be so foolish as to make the same mistake as Gonkuro?! That's where you're wrong!"
Okara flew up, diagonally into the air in the opposite direction of Ayumu. He held out both of his hands.
"YOU'RE FINISHED!"
His palms lit up with energy, as he pointed them straight at Ayumu. With both of his hands intertwined together, he began to fire a rapid barrage of powerful ki blasts, all of them aimed directly at the blonde-haired man. But, unexpectedly, Ayumu simply stood where he was, waiting for the blasts to hit him. Before they did, he put both of his hands to the sky and opened his palms, once again revealing the two semi-circular orbs that were attached to them.
The dozens of ki blasts Okara fired came raining down upon Ayumu. Okara made sure that they were directly on target, and for the most part he did well in that regard; however, there was an unexpected problem. None of the blasts hit his opponent.
With both of his hands, Ayumu looked as if he had caught every single one of the blasts. He quickly put his palms next to every single one of them, and it seemed as if the red dot on his hands sucked them, pulling them into its scarlet mass, and making them disappear into nothingness. He did this to the rest of the short volley Okara threw before the saiyan had stopped and realized what was happening.
"No… NO! It can't be! DAMN IT!" Okara screamed in frustration. He was just using his ace in the hole, and now, it seemed like the match was going to go on even further.
"What's wrong? Are you surprised that I can absorb energy attacks directly with my palms? Well… do not be sad just yet. The fight has only begun."
Okara flew down to the ground and grunted. "You're right. I've not even started to tap into my full power."
The two ran at each other, punching and kicking once more. This time, they were even again. Okara used his mixed fighting style, while Ayumu used his grappling style, both with mixed success. Although, the saiyan tried fighting more strategically; he lowered his defensive ki while he was attacking to focus it into his strike, making his punches and kicks more effective while conserving his ki. But this wasn't enough. Being even with Ayumu truly meant that he was losing; with every touch Ayumu got on Okara, he gained more energy, while Okara was using it. The saiyan was, although very, very gradually, losing the fight.
Of course, being as analytical as he was, Okara knew this was occurring; the main problem was that this time, he didn't have an answer for his decreasing ki. He had used up all of his techniques, and was getting extremely desperate. There was only one more ability he could try to re-use, but it was incredibly risky. There would be a good chance the saiyan would easily get eliminated if he performed it, but at the same time, if it worked, there would be a good chance he would win the fight, as well.
Okara took that risk. He flew backwards, away from fighting Ayumu again.
"Oh? Are you finally realizing the futility of your efforts? Are you retreating because you are in fear of what I have become?" asked Ayumu.
"No, you cheat bastard." Okara sighed, and then extended both of his arms outwards to his sides. His stance opened up, and his legs became wider. It looked as if he was about to hug someone.
"Ayumu… I'm going to give you this one chance. Hit me, with everything you've got."
His opponent scoffed. "And why would I have the need to do that? It is already assured that I will win the fight. You make it seem like you are stalling for time."
"Hear me out. I'm… I'm giving up. I know that I don't stand a chance against your power right now. I'm aware of that. But, my saiyan pride won't allow me to just leave the fighting stage. I want to go out with a bang, falling off only after you've given it everything you've got. So why not just eliminate me with one, big blast… instead of wasting ki trying to punch and kick me off the arena for hours on end?"
Ayumu stood still, with a blank stare. "That is… acceptable."
The opposing fighter began moving back, away from Okara further. He put his hands together, with his wrists connected, his palms opened up, and his fingers spread out. They were directly parallel to each other, with one hand being on the right and the other on the left. Then, a small ball of ki began to form in between his hands, growing more power but keeping the same size. This ball became more and more concentrated as time went on.
Okara bravely kept his stance: he was completely wide open. The saiyan lowered his ki defenses just enough so that only some of the blast would directly hit him, while some of it would impact his ki barrier. I just have to withstand this blast, Okara thought to himself. If I absorb enough energy, I'll be able to beat him… I just need to survive it.
And then, all at once, hell was unleashed upon the saiyan warrior.
The blast struck him with an intense physical pain that Okara had never quite experienced before. However, he stood his ground. The fighter stood still using the ability to become sturdy that he gained from his fellow Boreans, enduring the whole duration of the blast. After it had passed, only Okara was left, standing completely motionless on his two legs. From a distance, it would seem like Okara persevered very well.
But, Ayumu knew it was over. The saiyan's eyes were glazed, and his muscles were twitching. The only thing that kept him up was pure willpower and adrenaline. Once that wore off, it was over. Okara began to fall onto the floor.
His memories began flooding back to him. His first landing on earth, when he had just woken up from being asleep for two years. His first interaction with Gonkuro, and the tension that had immediately sprung from just their first greetings. The news of the tournament, and the thought of a chance to see his own race for the first time that motivated him. His first battle with Izumi, the energetic, bald girl that reminded him of his previous family. And then he went back further into his past, recalling the events that took place on Borea. His first peaceful interaction with the trees, his inauguration that made him officially part Borean. His first days of training to become a powerful warrior, and the first time he learned about… the Cave. The Cave… what had he done in the Cave again? Ah, yes… He dreamt… dreamt about all of the wonders of fate, swimming in the pool of vibrant colors, and being assured that his future was bright… but there was something at the end of that dream… something that disturbed him…
Of course… how could he forget…?
Fire was everywhere. Destruction ran rampant across Okara's entire surroundings, but unlike last time, the saiyan recognized these surroundings. It was the city that he had first landed in; the first city he had made contact with on Earth. The entire city- all the buildings, shops, and restaurants- it was all covered in this cold, harsh fire. And in the center of it was someone Okara recognized. It was someone from his previous dreams.
It had been too long. It was his old friend: the cloaked man with the gray, bandaged face.
"Wake up, Okara… You have to wake up…"
You're next.
Okara stopped himself from falling to the ground. His eyes shot open, and he breathed extremely quick and heavy breaths. He stood up straight, incredibly injured, but much more powerful than he was before. He glared at Ayumu, now with a fiery, intense passion that he hadn't felt in a long time. This glare made even Ayumu take a step backwards.
"I'm not losing this fight," Okara said firmly. He stood his ground, bending over due to his injuries. And then he powered up. His aura was brighter and more vibrant than ever before; it was incredibly massive, and overwhelming to say the least.
"That… is not possible. I calculated the power on that blast and your previous state. You should not have been able to withstand that blast."
"You calculated wrong then, you cheat bastard. Now… are you ready to lose?"
Ayumu stood still once again, as if he were making a decision in his head. After a while of silence, he responded.
"…Yes."
Okara stood his ground, maintaining his dominant presence, but was secretly in shock as he watched his formidable foe begin walking towards the edge of the arena.
"What happened to all that confidence?! I didn't think such a lifeless corpse like you could get so scared!"
"I'm not scared," replied Ayumu calmly. "I just have priorities. And currently, I have more than enough of your energy for my required mission, so I see winning the rest of the tournament at the cost of spending all of my ki as useless."
As Ayumu inched to the edge, he looked back and delivered one last message to Okara. "Oh… and if you tell anybody about what happened here… you know what I will do. Just tell the others that you could not control your newfound super saiyan ki well, resulting in an unwarranted, premature self-detonation. Say that, and I will be pleased."
Okara thought his options over, but found that Ayumu's advice was the only route to take. He powered down to his base form, and then nodded. "Very well."
"Hm," Ayumu said with a smile. "That's good."
The scarlet-palmed fighter leapt off the fighting stage and landed on the grass. He immediately changed his expression: with his eyes closed, he panted on the floor, and began to cough. He acted very well and believably; he really looked like he was injured. As he fell, the smoke faded from the area, leaving the sight of a broken arena and one very injured saiyan left standing on it.
"Huh… DUE TO AYUMU GETTING PUSHED OUT OF BOUNDS, IT LOOKS LIKE OKARA IS THE WINNER!"
Medics began to carry out Ayumu on a stretcher while Okara, clutching his battle-damaged arm, walked back into the waiting room. Once he entered, everybody looked at him in shock. He was bleeding from all over his body, and his already incredibly battle-damaged armor was even more broken. He limped over to one of the couches and sat down.
"Yo… Okara… What the hell happened to you out there?!" asked Gonkuro in shock. "We couldn't see anything because of the smoke. All we could do is sense your energy spike up to insane levels!"
"I couldn't control my super saiyan state," muttered Okara reluctantly. "I got too cocky and used my full power on Ayumu. The resulting transformation caused both the smoke and my injuries, due to my body not being able to hold all of that power in just yet. Basically, I blew myself up, which then led to Ayumu taking advantage of my condition and fighting me when I was at my weakest. I still beat him, obviously."
Gonkuro was surprised for a second, but then looked down upon Okara. "Wow. So… all your bragging led up to this? Honestly, I'm-"
"Shut up! Don't be so insensitive, Go!" yelled Shorts at his partner. The blue haired warrior pulled out his brown bag from his pocket and then grabbed a green bean from inside of it. "Eat this, Okara. It'll make you feel better."
"How the hell do I know it's not poison? You are fighting me next, after all."
Shorts got frustrated. "Look. If you fight me as you are right now, you won't stand a better chance at beating me than if you were poisoned, alright? Just eat it."
Okara grunted, but he obliged. Once ingesting the bean, he felt his power level rise tremendously. He looked at his hand and then formed a fist. The energy I absorbed from Ayumu… It must have finally kicked in. And, I probably got a massive zenkai boost from getting beat up and being healed, as well! Okara thought to himself. He smirked confidently. Alright! Now, with this much power, I might stand a chance against Shorts!
But then the saiyan noticed something off. Both Ashik and Tyriko were missing.
"Hey, where did the two green guys go?"
"Oh, they left," Shorts replied. "Ashik wanted to go train as immediately as possible in order to become stronger. He was probably just disappointed at the result of his fight. But, Tyriko did want to give you a note. They saw you win, by the way."
Shorts handed Okara a ripped-up piece of paper. On it, in messy handwriting, it read: Good jab beeting Ayumu. I shaw everyting. Callecting more data on him. More info cuming soon. -Tyriko.
…The universal vocabulary probably isn't Tyriko's main language, Okara thought to himself. But wait a second…
"One more thing," Okara said abruptly. "Why didn't they want to stay for the final fight? It is the battle that'll decide the victor."
"It's because the winner has already been decided. Be honest with yourself, buddy; do you really think you have a chance against Shorts?" replied Gonkuro.
"Hey! I think it's possible he can win, when looking at everything. I mean, I don't even know if he's used up all his techniques yet!" protested Shorts.
"He's right," interjected Okara. "I still have one more."
Okara wasn't lying; he did have one more technique up his sleeve. However, this one was experimental. The saiyan had only realized that he actually even had it in his arsenal during the two weeks prior to the tournament. He didn't use it against Izumi because he felt like he could win without it, and he didn't use it against Ayumu because he thought that it would be too risky to use such an experimental technique on him. Okara felt that Shorts, however, would go easy on him like he did Tyriko.
"Alright! Competitors Shorts and Okara may now enter the arena!"
"Nice. Feel free to go all out on me and use that technique, then," said Shorts as he began walking into his respective corridor.
"I will," replied Okara as he walked into his own.
Gonkuro looked annoyed. "Psh. Like it'll make a difference."
"IN THE LEFT CORNER, WE HAVE SHORTS, AND IN THE RIGHT, OKARA! BOTH OF THESE FIGHTERS ARE THE FINALISTS OF THE TOURNAMENT, SO THAT ALONE SHOULD SAY A LOT ABOUT THEIR POWER! AND REMEMBER, THE WINNER OF THE TOURNAMENT WILL BECOME THE NEXT OFFICIAL CHAMPION OF EARTH! IF THEY WANT TO, OF COURSE… Because I'm not sure an alien that landed on Earth two weeks ago would want to be its defender… BUT REGARDLESS, WELCOME SHORTS AND OKARA, AND PREPARE FOR THE FIGHT OF YOUR LIFETIME, FOLKS!"
Both the fighters stepped up onto the arena. Shorts got into his usual fighting pose, while Okara opened up just as he did when he was about to take the full brunt force of Ayumu's blast.
"Are you ready?" asked Shorts.
"More than you'll ever know," said Okara in response.
"NOW…"
"LET THE FINAL ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS…"
"BEGIN!"
o – o – o – o – o
The beginning of the end of the Tournament of Champions has begun! The two competitors, Shorts and Okara, will now clash! Who will take home the victory?
If Shorts wins the Tournament, will Okara's second place ranking be enough for Gonkuro and Shorts to let him meet his race? And, if Okara wins the Tournament, will he take on the position as the official Champion of Earth?
What is this new technique Okara is hyping up? Will it be of any use against Shorts?
Will Okara or Tyriko finally find out who Ayumu is, or what he is?
Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Newcomers!