What's today, Thursday?? Hmm... since I did two chapters today, I'll do one more chapter tomorrow and give myself the weekend. That's fair, right?
Well technically all I'm doing is copy/pasting from my master story into a Word document, then uploading it on here. I wrote all these chapters almost a year ago. :D
I have about 10 chapters left to upload, and they cover the Nanman campaign and various other stuff that happens later on. :D But if I keep speed-updating I'm gonna run out of chapters, and have to start WRITING THEM AGAIN... AAAAGGGHHH...
Oh, and my absolute favorite quote from this chapter is- Ling Tong- "Nothing could possibly make this moment horrible!"
Truer words couldn't be found. :D Well, in THIS story.
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Ce and Gan Ning's fight was definitely getting the crowd roused. Of course, everyone wanted their beloved Prince Sun Ce to win, (the Ling Tong fanclub appeared to be quiet-- they liked Gan Ning for kicking the snot out of me, because I kicked the snot out of Tong, but they still hated him because Ling Tong hated him. MAN am I confused) but some people were rooting for Gan Ning, who was starting to get a fanclub of his own.
We watched as Ce and Gan Ning stretched briefly and got down in fighting stances. I hated to admit it, but I had a feeling my big brother was in trouble. Gan Ning was very strong, and Ce was a lot weaker than he normally was, due to the fact that he was incarcerated for 2 years.
"Come on, Ce!" I yelled at my brother. Sure, Gan Ning was hot, but I loved my big brother and wanted him to win.
I wasn't the only one. "KICK HIS FILTHY ASS, DARLING!" Da screamed. We all looked at her, suprised. Da wasn't the type to act so, um, rashly in public. (Then again, she did hiss at us today.)
"LET THE MATCH BEGIN!!" Quan yelled, and rang the gong. Gan Ning threw a kick at Ce, who blocked, but still skidded back a few feet due to the impact. Ning didn't waste a minute and swung a punch at Ce, who caught Ning's fist and punched him right back.
Gan Ning caught Ce's fist, and Ce kicked Gan Ning in the stomach, bringing him down hard. Gan Ning got up angrily and managed to land a punch on my brother's face, sending him back a few feet.
Enraged, the formerly sweet and innocent Da Qiao screamed, "YOU MANGY PIRATE!! IF YOU SCAR MY CE-CE'S FACE I'M GONNA CASTARATE YOU!!" Ling Tong, looking delighted, hugged Da. "I love you, my sweet little cousin," he squealed, obviously happy that "I-hate-Gan-Ning-itis" was spreading.
Ce was still crouching down on the ground, holding
his face. Gan Ning walked over, probably to finish him off, when Ce's
fist shot up and smashed into
Gan Ning's jaw. Gan Ning yelled and
staggered back a few feet, holding his jaw. He angrily lunged at my
brother, who grabbed Ning's arm and threw him clear over his
shoulder.
Gan Ning went flying and hit the ground face-first, but he still wasn't beat! He looked like he was about done, seeing as he had to struggle to get back on his feet again. He gasped for breath and coughed up blood on the ring. "Ew," Xiao, who was standing right next to me, said. "I hope that big jerk loses! Look what he did to Sun Ce!"
Gan Ning charged at
Ce again, and punched him in the face. Ce yelled and punched him
right back. The fight had dragged on for a while now, with
pretty
much no results. Ce was bleeding from his mouth and forehead, and Gan
Ning had a steady nosebleed and was coughing up blood. Their clothes
were torn and frayed, their breathing was pretty heavy, and it looked
like neither one could take much more.
"I can't believe this... we're dead even," Ce said. "You're... you're pretty damn good, Gan Ning..."
"You're... not bad yourself, Sun Ce," Gan Ning said with a smirk. "This might take a while."
"I.. wouldn't count on that," Ce said, smirking back. "I'm... I'm not gonna lose. I don't care what I have to do to beat you... but I sure as hell will...!!" Ce charged Ning again, who grabbed Ce by his arm and tried to throw him the same way Ce did before.
Ce, however, was ready, and, using Gan Ning's leg as a boost, pulled his arm free and flipped completely backward, his leg slamming into Gan Ning's already busted jaw.
Finally beaten, Gan Ning yelled a cry of pain and
collapsed on the ground. Ce landed on the ground and watched as Gan
Ning frantically tried to get up.
Quan, who had been as
mesmerized in the battle as everyone else was, remembered he had to
start the countdown and yelled, "5! 4! 3!" as Gan Ning
struggled to stand up. He managed to crawl up onto his knees, and
when Quan yelled, "2!" managed to stand
upright.
"Unbelievable!" Zhou Yu said. "He's unbeatable! This is unfathomable! It's just plain--" Xiao clamped her hand over Zhou Yu's mouth. "Enough already, Zhouie! We're trying to hear!" she complained.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! IT'S UNFATHOMABLE!! GAN NING JUST PLAIN REFUSES TO LOSE!" Quan yelled. "I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER THIS CAN GO ON!"
Gan Ning was able to stand for 20 seconds, then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell down to the ground, unconcious.
"Ummm... IN PROBABLY THE BEST FIGHT OF THE DAY, AFTER A GRUELING AND NEARLY EQUAL-MATCHED FIGHT OF AMAZINGLY GOOD MARTIAL ARTS, SUN CE EMERGES VICTORIOUS!! GAN NING IS UNCONCIOUS AND CANNOT CONTINUE THE FIGHT!!" Quan yelled, jumping up and down. "SUN CE IS DECLARED THE 1ST ANNUAL WU MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT CHAMPION!!" He ran down onto the ring and grabbed Ce's arm.
"SUN CE!! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS AMAZING BATTLE!?" Quan yelled.
Ce looked exhausted. "Uh... hooray?" he said.
(AN: Geez! Sorry about all the upper-case lettering!!)
"HOORAY INDEED!!" Quan screamed, while the crowd went wild and ran down from the stands to see Ce up-close. "TAKE HIM!" Quan yelled, throwing Ce to the crowd.
"Hey! Quaaaaaaaaaaan!! I'm gonna kill you!!" Ce wailed, being whisked away by the cheering peasants.
(AN: Yes I know they did not have mosh pits back then, but I am the author and I may write whatever I please. :P)
"No! Sun Ce!" Da wailed, racing after her husband. "IF YOU SLUGS DON'T PUT MY CE-CE DOWN, I'LL BURN YOU ALIVE UNTIL YOUR PATHETIC BODIES EVAPORATE!!" she screamed at the peasants. The peasants, terrified of this tiny, pregnant, and enraged woman, screamed, dropped Ce on the ground ("Oww!") and ran away screaming for mercy.
I noticed Tong with a huge smile on his face. "What're you smiling about?" I asked.
"Your brother, kicking the crap out of Gan Ning!
Why WOULDN'T I be smiling?" Tong said happily. "This is the
greatest day of my life! Seeing Gan Ning get
beaten like that was
the best thing I've ever seen in my life! Nothing could possibly make
this moment horrible!"
"Hey Tongie! Guess what you are? You're the only boy in the whole stadium who got the snot kicked out of him by two girls in one day!!" Xiao yelled, popping into the stadium.
Tong's face turned a bright shade of red. "Shaddup!" he yelled at his cousin, who giggled and ran off again.
"What were you saying, about this being the greatest day of your life?" I said, laughing.
"You shut up too!" Tong said, now angry. And he thinks WOMEN are tempermental!
As we promised the peasants, the day ended with
a rousing fireworks show, courtesy of Zhou Yu and Lu Xun, who set
them off. I FINALLY caught up with
my brother, who was being
bandaged by the medic, and congradulated him on his win. "Thanks,
sis," Ce said, hugging me. "I kicked the snot out of that
jerk because of what he did to you, y'know!"
I grinned. "It's great to have you back, bro," I said. "But you gotta start training again! You're still tough, but 2 years ago you could have knocked Gan Ning right out of the ring no sweat!"
Ce yawned. "Yeah, I guess I'll have to start soon. But not now, I'm sleepy! G'night, sis! Tell Da I went to bed if you see her, OK?"
"OK. G'night, bro," I said, and Ce left. I left the medic tent, figuring I'd go find Xiao or something, since I was bored, when someone yelled, "Hey, Shang Xiang!" from behind me. I turned around, and saw it was Gan Ning, also leaving the medic tent.
"Hey!" he said, heading over to me. I noticed he was pretty banged up, seeing all the bandages all over his body. "Hey!" I replied, waving at him.
"Hey, look, I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I guess I didn't know my own strength," Gan Ning said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "You OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "I have to say, you were incredible out there!"
"Not really. I lost, remember?" Gan Ning said.
"No, I mean... my entire life, I've always known my brother was the strongest, toughest guy around, and I always felt so safe when I was with him. So to meet a guy who was almost as tough as he was... well, you sure don't see that every day," I explained.
"Oh, I get it. You and your brother are pretty close, aren't you?" Gan Ning asked.
"Yeah, I guess we are. When we were kids, Quan was always more interested in reading or studying, so Ce and I would play together almost all the time. He taught me basic martial arts, too, and I expanded on that on my own," I said.
"Hey, looks like they're shooting off more fireworks," Gan Ning commented, pointing up to the sky.
"Ooh, those are pretty!" I said, as a large multicolored one shot up into the air.
"Yeah, I guess they are," Gan Ning said. "You know what else is?"
"No, what?" I asked.
"You are," Gan Ning replied. And without further words, he pulled me closer to him, wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. Even though I knew anybody could be watching me, and how dead I'd be if one of my BROTHERS was watching me, I didn't care. I wrapped my arms around Gan Ning's neck and he pulled me closer to him.
"OH MY GOD!! SHANG XIANG!!" screamed a very familiar voice.
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Haha. Cliffhanger. You'll find out TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I LOVE YA, TOMORROW, YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAYYYYYY, TOOO-- gets hit with a brick Oww.
Haha, while I'm at it, let me tell you guys a funny story about some weird reviewer who sent me an email yesterday at 3:14AM (Pi time! Woohoo!) by the name of "yaoigrl" to inform me of the following. Since I could barely understand what this fruit loop was trying to tell me in 133t n3tsp33k I've done my best to translate what it is she wanted me to do.
Apparently she was replying to my question at the end of one of these chapters asking "Who should SSX end up with and why" and apparently, she wants me to end the story with SSX's death and Ling Tong and Gan Ning, in their grief, uhh, (trying to find a way to put this in a non-explicit way) fall in love. Yeah. Then she tells me "u suk n ths story sux 2".
I've decided not to dignify this crap with an answer. Honestly, if you're gonna flame me, MAKE IT GOOD!!
