Everything in Between 3
Chapter 1
Today was the day.
Tempest stood before the arena and took a deep, cleansing breath as he approached the back entrance. He was given instructions as to where to go, where to change and what to expect. For the past while, he and his father have trained non stop. He wasn't certain if he was ready for this yet, however the test before him will prove whether or not he is, if anything, it will make or break him.
Thoughts, nerves and ideas began to flow through his mind, he wondered the halls nearly in a daze until someone called out to him. "Mr. Tempest?"
He snapped out of his blank stare and stared down at one of the assistance to the arena. "The locker room is this way, please follow me." She said.
He gave but a nod and followed. As he wondered about, there were people stopping and staring at him. The whispers soon followed. He dressed as tradition dictated, even his robe was of thin material for he hasn't earned the more thicker and durable one yet due to his lack of rank currently. Athena went all out and made his sumo wardrobe herself. She did a remarkable job! Yet as he marveled at his own clothing as well as plotting how he will go about winning his matches, Tempest began to hear the whispering grow. Attendants for higher-ranking sumo wrestlers lingered about the halls in waiting, however when their eyes came upon him, many froze in shock. "Who the hell is he?"
"I have never seen him before until today… he's tall, but he's not like the others… he can't be a sumo wrestler can he?"
"That or he's so new he is going to be nothing but fodder."
He ignored the comments until he was directed to the locker room. From there, he went in, and the moment he did, those within took notice.
Silence befell the room.
At first there were conversations, heartily laughter and banter exchanged among the other wrestlers, yet when Tempest walked in. It rendered everyone silent.
"Newbie…" one muttered.
"No kidding, why is he in THIS locker room though?"
"Shouldn't he be with the juniors?"
He paid no mind as he took off his new robe Athena made for him. He tucked it away as he adjusted his mawashi belt and loincloth. As he stood at the ready, someone came from behind. "What's your rank?" he asked in a gruff tone.
Tempest turned and peered over his shoulder. "It's to be determined today." He explained gently, turning himself fully around he stood before the others who had suddenly come to gather around him. "My name is Tempest Brawler, in this tournament, I will be facing everyone in the Maegashira bracket." He said.
The locker room paused, then burst out laughing. "YOU! You are but a kid just cutting his teeth in this business! What makes you think that is going to happen!?"
Tempest kept calm. "I was informed by the chairman of the sumo federation of this, after I had proven my skills at another, defeating another wrestler name Haru,"
The laughter instantly stopped. "Haru? You FACED and DEFEATED Haru?! He was trained by Raiden himself!"
Tempest nodded. "So I have been told, the chairman thought it would be fitting that I faced everyone in the Komusubi rank, but that in itself contains the top six divisions within sumo itself."
Suddenly, some of the wrestlers went pale white. "You got to be kidding me… wait… your name… what's your name again?" one asked.
"Tempest, Tempest Brawler."
"Shit, this is the kid trained by Oni!"
"Well, not just Oni. My father trained me as well… he can be a bit of a monster at times when it comes to that…" Tempest said with a small smile. He closed up his locker. "I will see you in the dohyo," he said and walked out of the locker room to prepare for his tournament.
#
"Wow, this place is packed!"
"I never thought sumo would be THIS popular."
"Me either… good thing I brought pillows, my ass was getting numb from that hard seating arena!"
Melee had gathered most of the family to watch and cheer Tempest on. She promised him she would be there for his first match. She managed to get his siblings to come along, the triplets. Snek and his kids, Hunter, Goliath and Garou would be arriving soon. "Wow Papa, there are a lot of people here…" said Pythan.
"Yeah, no kidding…"
"You comfy Snek?" Melee asked. "I got a nice large industrial blanket for you if the floor is too hard."
He smiled to her efforts. "I'm fine, thanks, it's not like I am not use to coiling up on hard surfaces…" he paused as people stopped and stared at him. "What are you looking at!" he snapped.
People gave a strange look as they moved along. "What, I can't watch sumo wrestling like the rest of them?" he asked aloud.
"That's rude," said Angie.
Suddenly more people began to arrive. Genus came with Misty and Jason and they brought along various snacks. "Hello everyone. Misty insisted on us coming to this event… I do wonder how Tempest is going to do against men of such large proportions…" Genus announced as he took a seat.
"He'll be fine dad." Misty snickered. "I wanna see those rock hard buns of his… That belt on him… MMmm" she said and licked her lip slightly.
It started Genus and Jason a little. Jason even scooted away from his sister for that comment!
Then the lights dimmed.
People were abuzz now as the sumo wrestlers were introduced. Those of the higher rank did a ceremonial dance around the dohyo before stepping down. That was when a man in a suit stood on the edge of the ring. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are announcing a slight changed to this tournament, for we have a new and very promising talent in our midst that must and will be challenged by the best we have to offer to properly test his skills!" he explained. "The first seven matches will feature this young up and comer to the world, should he lose in the first of these bouts we will properly remove him from the ranks and have him start at the bottom. However, if he is successful, we will continue to challenge his strength until he has either won all matches, or has lost one!"
"What?" Melee whispered. "Can they do that? He's talking about Tempest isn't he?"
"Nothing to worry about," said Goliath. "This is all for show in a sense. They must be aware of his abilities, however you can't promote someone out of the blue and give him a rank like that when others have worked so hard to get to where they are. If anything it's fair."
"How is that fair?!" demanded Misty. "The moment he loses, he goes to the bottom of the barrel of all of this!"
"Exactly…" Goliath said and smirked. "IF he loses though."
Melee sighed, she worried this may put too much pressure on Tempest to succeed. Yet, the lights dimmed once more, Tempest came out from an entrance in the West. People began to whisper as he descended down and stepped into the dohyo. He gave a respectful bow to the chairman as he stood in wait of his opponent.
"Still, he has to face everyone in this division… isn't there like 42 sumo wrestlers in the Maegashira bracket?" asked Jason.
Goliath nodded. "Yeah, he's facing seven today, then seven on the third day, seven on the fifth day and so on." He explained. "Question is, how far do they go with this? If he clears everyone then he goes up to the next rank?" he asked aloud.
No one knew at this point, and by the looks of it, neither does Tempest. Melee held her breath as his opponent came down to the ring. They did the ritual and cleanses the ring with salt before being called to the center by the referee. Melee kept her breath held as Tempest took his position, yet he took and odd stance that started his opponent. He was crouched down yet appeared perched in a sense, with his fists clenched and on the ground. "That's the lion stance!" said Hunter.
"What?" asked Melee.
"The stance, it's usually an indication that he is going to strike hard and fast, according to dad, it's to allow the quickest movement to get his arms up and thrust forward… yet… that's a total call, why would he take that stance?!"
"SPIRIT!"
Melee jumped as suddenly they moved. Tempest was so fast she nearly blinked and missed it. However, despite his position, he never went for the strike. Instead, Tempest went low and grabbed his opponent by the legs and took him off his feet!
The arena froze in silence as the sumo was on his back and Tempest didn't appear tired from the event. Instead, he turned and helped his opponent up once more. From there he did a respectful bow to him and the referee, but never showed a smile on his face, or sense of pride to his accomplishment. He went back to his corner and waited for the next wrestler to come to the ring.
The other guy though, was stunned and even appeared scared of him!