Chapter 55: The Fighting Tournament: The Second of the Preliminary Rounds (Part 1)

I woke up with sunlight shining through the bedroom's window. Most of the other guys were sitting up in their beds, stretching. Klug was one the exceptions where he was reaching over for his glasses. "*yawn* Good morning…" I got up slowly. After I said that, they noticed that I was awake. "Ah... good mornin', Dave." Lemres smiled. I looked at the time on my phone. Good, it's still pretty early. We can all easily squeeze in breakfast and I can fly Arle to the tournament so that I can go through with round two. "How about we all eat something before we go? You can't fight on an empty stomach... right, Dave?" Satan suggested. "Absolutely." I smiled and nodded. We all dressed up and went into the dining hall to eat. The girls were already waiting for us there, sitting down. "I guess they had the same idea we had…" Klug said to me. "It's not exactly hard to see why…" I told him. I got to talk with the girls and it seemed like Accord kept her promise. I didn't hear anything about last night's events being talked about. This was good for me, because that meant less controversy.

I finished eating rather quickly, but not too quickly and grabbed Arle's hand. Thankfully, she finished just before I did and stood up. "Me and Arle are going to go now guys, wish me luck!" I waved to the rest of the group. Pretty much all of them waved, the only one that didn't was Schezo. I ran outside with Arle and brought out my bulky armor. "Climb aboard." I helped her up. "Th-this is something…" She said when getting up to my armor's back. "Don't worry, it'll be fun. Just hang on a little and I'll go slow." I assured her. "O-okay…" She held on tight. "And, away we go!" I flapped my wings. When Arle experienced my flight, she loved it. "Dave, this feels like I'm flying around as part of an adventure! Wooo-hooo!" "I'm glad you like this, Arle... Just like how you've been raring to go with my flight, I'm getting like that two for my round two match. Now I feel mentally prepared to do it and win this whole thing in a slower, more methodical manner. Basically, I'm going to take my time and not worry so much about Draco. I know that she's at least safe for the duration of the tournament. So, why worry when I can instead be like myself, fighting with heart and not desperation? I should be taking my time, having fun, even though there are high stakes." "Yeah."

We eventually arrived at the tournament site, with many of the winners of round one already there near the ring. I saw Rulue within that bunch, but I knew that if she noticed me… she wouldn't talk to me. Out of my armor, I waited within the group of fighters. Arle went to the behind-the-scenes area to wait since she was just my healer. Jarne also waved to me with a smile on her face. What shocked me was that I didn't see Hohow Bird until round two was about to start. When he did show up, we exchanged fierce stares. The crowd was just settling in at this point as they sat in their seats. Thankfully, I saw all my friends and whatnot roughly in the same area as the previous day. Oshare Bones soon scrambled to be in front of us, so that he could face the crowd. "*throat clear* Ladiiiies and gentlemen! Welcome back to the tournament for round two! Sixteen contestants remain here to fight today, but not for long. When round two ends, there will be only eight fighters left. I'm sure that you are all just waiting for us to bring to you guys the first match, AM I RIGHT?!" Oshare spoke to the audience. "YEAH!" The crowd screamed. "That's the spirit! Now, I must mention here: The matchboard itself has been modified. So, if you see one of the fighters in a completely different bracket than yesterday, then that's why. But, without prolonging this any further… LET'S BEGIN ROUND TWO!" The skeleton hollered. The crowd went wild for wanting to see more fights. "Now match board, show us our first round two match." He turned over to it. "... And there's our first matchup for the round. If you are one of these two… then get in the ring. As for the rest here, you know where to go!" He pointed to the behind-the-scenes area.

As it turned out, Jarne was going to fight in the first match. "Hey, good luck out there!" I waved to her. "*giggle* Thanks!" She waved back. I headed for the behind-the-scenes area to watch her from the screen there. I met back up with Arle and sat with her. "So, Jarne's gonna fight somebody first…" She said. "Yeah… let's see that other fighter she's going up against." I nodded. "Alright! Now that the ring has been cleared of excess fighters… On my left, is the djinn that proved herself to be one who manipulates her own size. I know her, you know her, it's Jarne! Aaaand on my right, is the boy with a single huuuuuge foot! Don't let his stature fool you, his foot can quite literally kick your ass if you're not careful around him. It's Sukiyapodes!" Oshare pointed. The guys in the crowd fell in love with Jarne. Meanwhile, the girls were going "Aaaaw!" when it came to this giant foot boy. "Hey, I know him… he's from my world. How did he get here?" Arle remembered, then wondered.

I thought of something to say as an answer to that question of hers. "I guess through the same way that others have? I dunno." I shrugged. "Now, let us begin!" Oshare declared and jumped away. "You look creepy, boy." Jarne grimaced. "What did you say?! Clearly, you are a weird girl out of many! Look at all of those in the crowd! You, don't see THEM being disturbed by my look! Besides, this is how I am, you ignorant bit-! ... You know what? Screw this talk, I'll just kick you silly until I win the match!" Sukiyapodes made a mad-hop for Jarne. "Uh-oh, you don't want Sukiyapodes to be pissed. Back in the day, he almost crushed me with his foot one time because I peeved him off." Arle recalled. "What did you do to get him so angry at you?" I asked. "Dunno. I can't remember what I said that got him like that. I looked back at the screen to see Jarne having lots of trouble avoiding Sukiyapodes. I knew that at this rate, she couldn't dodge him forever.

I was right, she soon got hit and fell over. Sukiyapodes then jumped up and attempted to stomp on her stomach before she could recover. Luckily, she was quick on her feet. "Crap-!" Jarne rolled with such speed, but that didn't stop the foot boy. That was only a minor annoyance to him as he continued to pursue her. Jarne looked like she was tired of running away, then went in to suddenly punch Sukiyapodes in the face. "Ouch!" He fell over. Jarne proceeded to absolutely wail on him while the opportunity was prime. "Oh my God! ... S-she's beating the absolute shit out of him!" I was surprised. "Owowowowowowowow! Get off of me!" He got back up and landed a solid hit with his foot. "Gyah!" Jarne flew backwards a few feet and landed on her face. At this point, it became a real brawl. By a real brawl, I mean it started to look like one of those fights you would see in remote parts of neighborhoods, caused by troublesome gangs. This wasn't a clean fight anymore; it continued with dirty move after dirty move. Jarne must have felt like she had enough with him, because she grew to be a giant and struck him from above with her arm. "Gyaaaaaah!" He uttered before his opponent got back up and shrunk down to normal size. "... If Sukiyapodes fails to get back up in the next ten seconds, victory will go to Jarne." Oshare chimed in.

The countdown at this point began to kick in. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero." The countdown ended. "And there you have it! After struggling to hit Sukiyapodes for a bit, Jarne fought back and won by crushing him with her arm! Let's see an instant replay of that!" Oshare turned it over to the replay. We watched the replay as we were collecting our thoughts. "Damn, I didn't think the match would turn out that way…" I noted. "Yeah, Jarne fought in a way that I didn't expect." Arle nodded. I saw the djinn panting and it was clear that she was injured. She walked back to the behind-the-scenes area, past us, and went to her healer. "Jarne was certainly a tough cookie when it came to, pardon the pun, going toe-to-toe with Sukiyapodes." Oshare joked a little. "Ugh…" I groaned at the pun. "That joke was TERRIBLE." Arle facepalmed herself. "Now, let's get ready for the second match!" He hyped up the crowd. The fight wasn't anything special, nothing to note.

The third matchup was revealed and I was next. "Do your best out there, Dave!" Arle wished me luck. I smiled to her and walked over to the ring. "Aaallllriiiight! The third match is about to commence, and it'll be a blast! ... On my left is the female demon of lust. She has a bit of sadism and gets off by inflicting pain to men, it's the sexy… Succubus!" He shuddered slightly. The men went too crazy for Succubus' looks, and I couldn't blame them. She IS hot… but I'm not gonna let that stop me! "And on my right is the powerful Demonic Dragon Warrior himself, Daaaaaave!" He cheered for me. I had my own fans in the crowd as well, they cheered me on with such loyalty. "With that: Let's begin!" Oshare jumped away from us. "Mm… hmhmhm… you look fun to play with, boy…" Succubus said to me, then licked her lips. I shuddered a little from that motion with her tongue. "I'm not going to be your form of pleasure." I assured her. "Such insolence, you'll have to be seveeerely punished for denying me." She told me. "Go ahead and "punish" me then…" I transformed, mid-sentence. "...see what happens…" I finished my line. "Tch. What a naughty boy... not accepting this hot body in exchange for pain." She scoffed. "I don't find pain to be a form of pleasure, woman. Deal with it..." I said. "Then face my whip, you ingrate!" Succubus snapped. The whip smacked against my armor and I flinched. Good thing she can't see me flinching when I have this helmet on… I felt the impact, but it didn't hurt at all. "Heh. Do you think this hurts, Succubus?" I stood tall. "I-impossible, my whip's regular snaps have no effect on you?" She realized. "No. If you think a non-lethal weapon like that can hurt me through this armor, then you must be high. There's no way that it could!" I pounded my chest once to show that point. "Dammit… Oh-! You won't be in such a high and mighty position for much longer… Mmhmhmhm!" She licked her lips again. "Huh…?" I felt like something was wrong here.

I readied myself for whatever was going to be thrown my way. "Masochistic Entanglement!" Succubus extended the length of her whip and launched it at my legs. "...!" I tried to fly away from it, but got caught anyway. "Feel the pleasure of pain…" She blew a kiss at me. It went through my armor and sank into my body. "What the fuck...?" I felt funny. Before I knew it, my mind suddenly thought about having a dose of pain. Mmm… I surely want some pain from her and that- Wh-what?! No! What am I thinking?! I need to focus on defeating… Before I could zero in on Succubus, my mind was completely lulled at that point. Therefore, I don't remember much of what actually happened next.

Arle's POV

"*gasp* Oh no! What's going on with him?! Dave suddenly stopped flying and he's…" I stopped and noticed. His armor disappeared and he pleaded for himself to be whipped. "Oh my goodness! Children, look away from this sight!" Oshare shook. "That's right, no guy can resist me… Kneel." Succubus said, then commanded for Dave to do. He nodded and kneeled, just as she wanted. "No…!" I didn't want to see this unfold. She began to whip him consistently and he desired for MORE. "See there? You're no hero if you fall into a mental trap like that one, and Dave easily fell victim to it." Hohow Bird appeared behind me. "What do YOU know?! You haven't been affected by that yet!" I argued. "True… but my hero's spirit shines too brightly for a strange fetish to seize my mind! Trust me, lady, he's not getting out of this without help. And unfortunately for him, he CAN'T get help when he's fighting here. And frankly, he doesn't deserve help in the slightest! Hooooohohohohoho!" He laughed. "Why you…! He'll get outta this, I believe in him!" I rooted for Dave. "Rooting for a villain will do you no good, you know…" Hohow Bird arrogantly said. "Shut it. Just let me watch." I told him. "Suit yourself, don't come crying to me when Dave easily loses this round. His power is completely useless against that succubus! Hooohohohohohooo!" He walked away. Tch. Stupid bird… "This is terrible folks, Dave is getting whipped into submission! Is all hope for him lost?!" Oshare commented. "Do you wanna get whipped too, you skeleton?" Succubus glared at him. "Gyaaaah! Y-y-you're not supposed to threaten the commentator in ANY capacity!" He screamed. "Jeez, she's even got him scared… this is bad." I worried for Dave.

Ex's POV

"Kyaah! Th-this is scary, I don't want to see Dave end up like this!" Lidelle closed her eyes in fear. Accord had attempted to comfort the girl and promised that Dave was going to be fine. "What the hell is going on with Dave? Why is he just letting her whip him?" I wondered. "Succubus is… well… a succubus. She has the means to make men be how she wants them to be. In this case, she wants herself to be what people would call a dominatrix to the men that she inflicts pain to. Succubus gets her sexual pleasure from doing that. Right now, she has him in a position where his brain thinks he's feeling good from the whip lashing. Remember when she blew that kiss at Dave, Ex?" Satan said before he turned to face me. "Yeah… … So that's what caused him to be like this... The kiss must've been the catalyst for this sudden change in behavior." I figured out. "*sigh* I remember this bitch… I was almost whipped to death by her years back. I HATED that feeling so goddamn much!" Schezo mentioned. "I-Is that so…?" I looked at him for a bit, then looked back to Dave. The whipping continued for some more time. "This is not good… If Dave fails to get a hold of his own mind, he will lose without a doubt." Accord said. "How CAN he get out of this? He doesn't have anyone to help him break free." Ringo crossed her arms. "C'mon Dave, don't remain under this bitch's spell! Break free, dammit!" Feli hollered.

Dave's POV

At one point, I heard a familiar voice and my mind slowly came back to me. That was… Feli's voice…! What am I…? ...! That's right! Succubus did something to my mind… Gh-! Now I'm feeling and resenting this pain… ... I should play along with things for now and make Succubus lower her guard. Once she does, I'll be able to gain the upper hand in this fight. "Mmhmhmhmhm... You like that, don't you?" She grabbed my chin with her hand. "Yes, please bring me more…" I lured her. I was careful not to wince with each whip lashing that she gave me. If I did so, even once, she would have figured out that something was up. Luckily, being whipped was not the worst thing that I've felt at this point. I kept hearing my friends call out to me as this was happening. They must not know that I'm already free of Succubus' spell… I better act immediately when I find the chance to do so. A few minutes go by with me stilling playing along with my act. Then, the lustful demon pulled me close to her face. "Time for a reward, my little demon boy..." She attempted to kiss me, unaware of my normal state of mind. Her actual kiss must do something to victims that are unfortunate enough to be pressed by her lips… Why else would she do this? I can't let this bitch get away with doing something. Coming from her side, I shot my fist at her face with a lot of force. "YYAH!" I punched her. "Oooooow!" Succubus flew backwards a bit from the decent force that I applied. "Oh my God! Dave is no longer under Succubus' control?!" Oshare could not believe it.

She got up soon after hitting the ground, then looked at her face from a pocket mirror. Meanwhile, I materialized my dragon armor again. "*hiss* You bastard! You dare ruin my beautiful face?! How are you free of the spell that I put you under?!" She screeched at me with a bloodied face. "Daaaamn, I must've broken your nose with that punch... As for your spell, Succubus: Someone's voice from the crowd was able to reach my ears. And, this is someone that I know very well. Not only do I know them well, I love this person too! We don't treat each other as strictly tools of pleasure. With that being said, this person is a girl of course. She respects me, unlike you… Succubus, you just reach out for men for the sake of your twisted sexual desires. That's why your spell didn't keep my mind lulled for so long! You can certainly try to do that crap again, but I'll just mentally resist it if it does hit me. I don't have a one-track mind like you… I'm NOT that kind of demon! I have the qualities of a proper human!" I transformed back into my armor.

Succubus didn't seem to like where this was going. "Y-you shouldn't be standing, I whipped you so much!" She hissed at me again. "Oh please, do you think that I'm somehow weak?! I'm the Demonic Dragon Warrior, surely you must know how resilient I can be! After all, you're a demon too..." I cracked my knuckles. "D-damn you!" She cracked her whip like crazy. Even though she was whip lashing with such speed and more strength, it only managed to knock me back. I stood my ground and remained strong in front of her. "How disappointing... The only reason that you were able to get to the second round was that one-trick pony. Now that it has failed you, what will you do?" I stared down at her. "Sh-shut the hell up! It has not failed on me, you were just lucky that someone in the crowd snapped you out of it with a holler!" Succubus furrowed her eyebrows. "Fine. If you say that, then prove it!" I intimidated her. "...! You dare intimidate me...?! Then take this! Masochistic Entanglement!" She flung her whip. Wow, she's THIS desperate... *sigh* It's not like I'm surprised, she's just a petty demon after all. I caught the whip with my hand before it could do anything. "WHAT?!" She continued to hiss. I decided to yank it away from her with my raw muscle strength. "*gasp* My whip!" Succubus reached a hand out for it.

After I took hold of it, I tossed it behind me and outside of the ring. "Now what will you do? You don't even have your main weapon to possibly help you anymore. You're just a pathetic and weak pure demon who's basically been driven into an inescapable corner… an indefensible position. Meanwhile, here I am, as a demon who was formerly a basic human being; one who has trained and grown to be undeniably powerful. Even the ruler of the Puyo Underworld, Satan, has given me his praises. What can you POSSIBLY do to me at this point? … Nothing, that's what. How about you make this easier for yourself and forfeit the match to me, Succubus? I promise that I won't mess your face up any more than it has to be." I continued to stare at her. "... F-forfeit…? To hell with that… … WHY WON'T YOU GO DOWN?!" She slapped my helmet off and I stumbled. "So, it looks like I don't have much of a choice…" I regained my balance.

I broke both of her arms with my hands through brute force. "Gyyyaaaaaah! What have you done to me?!" Succubus cried. "Ooooh! That'll hurt in the morning!" Oshare chimed in. "*sigh* How about you do me a favor and silence yourself, you demonic harpie." I lightly kicked her head. From what I saw, she fell to the ground and was knocked out. "... Succubus is… … SHE. IS. OUT. COLD! Thus, the winner of this match by default is Dave!" Oshare raised his hand up in the air, then pointed to me. The crowd cheered for me heavily as I stood proud in front of them. I knew that I had gained popularity from the audience. My armor faded and I walked back to the behind-the-scenes area. "Dave! Oh thank God you're fine!" Arle hugged me. "Ow-! Careful… I was whipped, you know…" My body jolted as I told her. "S-sorry, I'll start healing you now." She said.

The healing felt pleasant after I got whipped by that she-devil of a succubus. Jarne came by to talk with us as I was being healed. She was initially worried about my condition within the match I had, but after seeing me turn the tables on my opponent… she began to develop huge respect for me. I smiled at her telling me that and told her that I appreciated the praise. The next two matches were relatively tame, but I noticed that the competition was getting more fierce as time went on. I wasn't paying attention to every single other fighter here, so this got me a little concerned. The competitors are putting up more and more of a fight to each other than before… I should take this into account for tomorrow, round three will have those tag-team fights. As me, Arle, and Jarne all watched the second match that occurred after mine, we talked. "You know... things will only get significantly tougher from here. Sure, my match with Owlbear was one hell of a wake up call, but on the other hand… Succubus was only a problem because of that one-trick pony of a spell. Tomorrow though is when the real hard-fought battles will begin. I can just tell base off of what we see right now." I said.

It took a few seconds for either Arle, or Jarne, to say something. "You're not wrong… The way that I see this: It will be tougher for you going forward." Arle nodded to me. "I don't know how well I'll do against what's left of the fighters. So far, I already had plenty of difficulty when it came to dealing with that archer girl and giant foot. I might just lose in the third round, because I don't feel like I'm strong enough." Jarne frowned. "Hey, don't be like that, Jarne... Even though I want to win this whole thing, you have a unique power that you can rely on. Believe in yourself, as well as the power to manipulate your own body size. You might not win the tournament under normal circumstances, but you COULD if you place faith in yourself that you can do anything. You could even choose to believe in me and fight to win. If you and I do end up fighting against each other… solidify your belief that I can provide you a fun match. If you're eliminated, then believe in me that I can win. You see what I'm saying?" I turned to Jarne and attempted to cheer her up. "Y-yeah, you're right. All I can do is the very best that I can!" She came to accept. "Exactly, Jarne!" I smiled.


Author's Notes: Round two has begun and Dave noticed that the further it went along, the fighters were becoming tougher and more fierce. He had some difficulty with his match, thanks to Succubus' one trick. Other than that though, he won with little issue. It's obvious at this point that Jarne might lose in a match at some point. When she does, she'll be eliminated from the tournament. There are three matches left to go through in this round, one or two of which could be important for how the tournament will shape up to be. What will exactly happen? Next chapter, Chapter 56: The Fighting Tournament: The Second of the Preliminary Rounds (Part 2).