Author's Note
Hello everybody. It's been a while, ne? Sorry for being so dormant as of late. School, work, and my personal life kind of took over everything, and I couldn't find time to write. But it's the Winter Holidays now, so I'll do my best to finish the second installment of the Bells trilogy! Thank you so much for sticking by me, and welcome to all my new readers.
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis does not belong to me.
Mizuki stepped out of his corner and towards center-stage. "I'll take the first shot then!" He swept his cape to the side and revealed a belt of vials wound around his torso, each containing a different coloured liquid. He withdrew two, one in each hand, and threw them in opposite directions. Fuji and Saeki watched as the vials flew towards them, landing several feet in front of them. The vials broke, and the liquid seeped onto the floor.
"And… these are?" Saeki cocked an eyebrow at the little puddle of brown water. He glanced about him, eyes constantly alert. Fuji stood opposite him, staring at his own puddle of white, while Jirou had already managed to fall asleep again, somehow hovering a few feet off of the ground.
Mizuki smiled at Saeki. "Watch and learn," he said, turning to Fuji. "I've heard all about the two of you from Yuuta, and I've studied you for years. I know all of your weaknesses!" He raised his hands towards the puddles, which began to grow and shape themselves. "Weaknesses like the things you fear most!"
The audience watched as the floating bubbles shifted. The brown water turned itself into a bear, while the white bubble transformed into a massive white whale. Mizuki laughed, turning both bubble-animals on Fuji. "Tremble before me, Fuji Syuusuke!"
Saeki paused and watched as Fuji tilted his head to the side, seemingly confused. The tensai calmly walked up to the closest animal, the whale, and examined it. Without speaking, he raised one finger and poked the bubble.
It burst.
Saeki exploded into laughter as Mizuki fumed. "What's going on?" he demanded. "Why aren't you trembling? These are your biggest fears!"
Fuji frowned cutely. "My biggest fears? Why, I must have heard you wrong, Sashimi-kun. These are some of my most favourite animals."
"W-what?!" Mizuki shrieked. "But… Yuuta said… My observations…!"
Fuji smiled wickedly. "Now then… How about I show you a real attack?" Before Mizuki could reply, Fuji had drawn an arrow from the quiver upon his back and notched it into his bow. He raised both quickly, and launched an arrow towards the boy in the middle. "Fly, my swallow."
The audience gasped as the arrow seemed to take on the shape of a bird, which soared gracefully through the air, shrieking powerfully as it sailed towards Mizuki. "Ahh!" Mizuki screamed, ducking for cover. The arrow pierced through his hat, sending it flying to the other side of the stage, where it got stuck on the wall.
"That…" everyone's eyes turned to Jirou, who was now wide awake and bouncing in mid-air, "that was awesome!" He floated towards Fuji, his eyes full of joy. "Ne, can you do that again? You're amazing! Hey, Atobe, did you see that? Atobe!"
Fuji chuckled as Jirou floated around the arena excitedly, asking audience members if they had seen the illusion Fuji had cast. Mizuki scowled, as he ripped his hat from the wall, placing it back upon his head.
"Why you – " Mizuki grabbed a vial and smashed it into the ground, breaking the end of it. Baring the sharp jagged ends of the glass, he leapt at Fuji. "How dare you embarrass me like that!"
Fuji's eyes widened as he watched the sharp ends come at his face. He threw up one arm to try and protect himself for the attack.
"Stop."
Mizuki froze mid-air, suspended in his leap. Fuji looked past him to see Saeki smiling, one hand extended towards Mizuki. "Thank you, Saeki," Fuji called.
"What a surprise!" Gakuto exclaimed. "Saeki, a time master, has helped Fuji out by stopping Mizuki, a manipulator of space!"
"According to my data, the two of them were very close friends as children," Inui read from one of his many notebooks.
"That's so nice of Saeki, helping out a childhood friend!" Ohtori added, his heart bursting with happiness for the two friends.
Fuji nodded. "However," he said, turning his attention back to the battle, "that friendship will not interfere with our battle."
"Let's see which of us is the stronger one, Fuji!" Saeki agreed.
Jirou approached the frozen Mizuki. "Waa…" he said, poking the frozen boy. "Look at this silly cape! And this hat!" Jirou removed Mizuki's hat and placed it upon his own head. "It looks like something Atobe would wear after he's been drinking!" Jirou laughed, imitating a drunk Atobe. Saeki couldn't stop his laughter at the scene, causing him to lose his concentration. Mizuki broke free from the time trap.
"How dare you mock me?" Mizuki screamed, swinging his already-raised arm down towards Jirou.
In a flash, Mizuki's body was thrown through the air. With a slam and a grunt of pain, he hit the wall next to his hat and slid down, unconscious. Everyone looked back to Jirou, who had a serious look on his face and was glaring at Mizuki's crumpled form. "Don't touch me."
"And a surprising attack by Jirou has knocked Mizuki out of the competition!" Gakuto announced.
"Saa… Looks like we'll have to be careful of this one, won't we?" Fuji said.
"I have to be careful of both of you," Saeki told Fuji with a sideways glance. "Well, I'll get rid of the air master first."
With that, Saeki dashed towards Jirou at an inhuman speed. Before anyone had realized it, he held Jirou from behind, a knife to his neck. "You might as well give up, Jirou."
A burst of air forced Saeki backwards, but Saeki held on tight to Jirou. The two careened backwards. Jirou frowned, and lifted himself up into the air, lifting Saeki with him. "Giving up is so not awesome." Jirou said simply, hovering higher and higher. "How long can you hold on, I wonder?"
Saeki scrabbled at Jirou's shoulders, desperate to hold on. Jirou smirked and started pinching Saeki's fingers. Fuji saw his chance to strike. He knelt down, touching the fingertips of one hand to the ground, and spun in a circle. A white serpent materialized, coiling around Fuji. "Go, my leviathan," Fuji said, casting his illusion towards Saeki and Jirou. The serpent hissed and slithered below Jirou and Saeki. It raised itself up into the air, spreading its magnificent purple and blue hood and hissing at the two in the air. Its jaws opened wide, sharp fangs snapping beneath the two. Meanwhile, Fuji withdrew two thin daggers from his belt and threw them towards the pair in the air. They hit their targets just as the Leviathan snapped its fangs at the two.
"Ahh!" Jirou fell to the floor, screaming in fear. He landed and scrambled backwards, hitting the wall of the arena.
"Jirou has left the arena," Hiyoshi announced. "He is officially eliminated from the competition."
Saeki glared at Fuji, ripping the dagger out of his arm. "Looks like it's just you and me now. Your pretty tricks won't work on me, Fuji."
Fuji's eyes opened. With a wave of his arm, the serpent dissipated, forming hundreds of bright lights that surrounded Fuji where he stood. Saeki would not be an easy opponent to defeat, nor would he fall for any of the illusions Fuji used, due to past experience battling with the tensai. Likewise, Fuji knew all about Saeki's time traps, and how it took serious focus on a predictable target for the trap to be successful.
The two friends circled each other, staring across the arena and waiting to see who would be the first to make a move. Saeki reached into his pocket and pulled out a marble, flicking it off to the side. His distraction worked; for a second, Fuji's eyes were drawn to the shiny object. Seeing his chance, Saeki leapt.
The lights in the stadium went out, causing the audience to gasps. "What's going on?" Ohtori asked from the stage.
"The lights! Where'd the lights go?" Gakuto shouted.
A growl reached the ears of the audience, and a blue light burst into being on the stage. Everyone watched as Saeki lay on the ground, pinned by a giant silver fox with blue flames. The fox growled at Saeki, snapping its jaws at the boy beneath it every time he tried to escape.
"Saeki is unable to continue!" Hiyoshi announced. "Fuji advances to the next round!"
Fuji stared at the fox. "But… That's not…"
At the sound of Fuji's voice, the fox whirled around. In a blur of blue flames, it shrunk back down to its normal size. Mewling, it ran to Fuji's side, rubbing its head against his leg. "You're the kitsune from earlier," Fuji said, bending down to pet the fox's head. "Thank you for coming to my rescue, little one."
The fox purred under Fuji's touch before mewing once more and disappearing in a puff of flames. Fuji turned to help Saeki up from the ground. "I guess your animal familiar got the better of me," Saeki admitted. "Although, I never knew that you had one."
Fuji shrugged. "I never knew I had one either."
Once Mizuki had been dragged off of the arena, the remaining contestants filed onto the stage once more. "We've seen some pretty amazing moves already!" Gakuto said, doing a backflip off of the judges' table. "Now, let's find out who our third group of combatants will be!"
Once again, the glowing feathers drifted towards the group. Only eight players remained, so it was obvious that whoever wasn't chosen this round would fight in the final round of the day. From the lounge, Fuji watched as both Shiraishi and Yukimura were selected for the third fight, along with a bespectacled man with blue hair and a boy with a silver rat-tail. As they entered the stadium, Fuji saw Sanada approach his friend.
"Yukimura, are you sure this is a good idea?" Sanada said. "You've always been frail, ever since birth…"
"Sanada." Yukimura's voice held a steely edge to it that would have seemed impossible from the soft-spoken boy. He spoke the Emperor's name with such finality that Sanada dropped his argument.
"Just be careful, Seiichi."
"In the North corner, we have Yukimura Seichii, from Rikkai!" Gakuto yelled. The Child of God wore a light purple kimono with a pale green sash. He waved elegantly at the audience.
"In the East, we have Shiraishi Kuranosuke, Lord of the Shitenhouji province!" Hiyoshi announced quickly. Shiraishi nodded and smiled at the audience, rolling up the sleeves to his magnificent white robes.
"Ganbatte, Shiraishi!" a redheaded boy yelled from the stands. He gave Shiraishi a thumbs up.
"Thank you, Kin-chan," Shiraishi said. "Aa… Ecstasy!"
"In the South, we have Hyoutei's Oshitari Yuushi!" Gakuto introduced his partner in crime. The blue-haired man adjusted his purple tophat, which matched his suit.
"And finally, in the West, we have… Atobe?!" Hiyoshi paused in his introduction. Indeed, the ice king stood before the audience.
Yukimura laughed. "We have Niou Masaharu," he corrected Hiyoshi, "The number one trickster of Rikkai."
The image of the ice king faded away to reveal the boy with the silver rat-tail. His dark blue eyes narrowed in amusement. "Puri."
"Begin!"
The third match ended before anyone realized it. A large explosion had set off a cloud of dust that filled the stadium. As it began to clear, the only thing that the audience saw was the Child of God stepping away from the arena.
"Wa-wait, Yukimura!" Hiyoshi called. "What about the battle?"
"The battle?" Yukimura said softly, turning to stare at Hiyoshi over his shoulder. "The battle has already been won."
The crowd gasped, realizing that, once the dust cleared, the unconscious forms of Shiraishi, Oshitari, and Niou lay crumped against the walls of the arena.
"What…" Gakuto recovered from his shock first. "Ladies and gentlemen, our winner from group three is Yukimura Seiichi!"