Volume 1

Chapter 27

Contest

Part 3


Epinephrine, also known as adrenaline. Through his studies both in this life and in the last, Lee had learned that it was produced by the adrenal glands and it was a major part of the flight or fight response. Thanks to more hands-on experience, he was conscious of the fact that it tended to make his body itch all over, even as his heartbeat accelerated to such an extreme pace that it felt like the organ might burst from his chest. And that was saying nothing of the quivering in place that, once upon a time, tended to come with it. But with the latter of those symptoms having been largely neutralized via training, the feeling of adrenaline coursing through his veins was one that Lee had come to savor; he might even go so far as to say that he craved it, considering how much he enjoyed fighting.

Kind of a requirement to do well in the MRCT, Lee found himself musing as his fingers ghosted over the grips of Cloudburst, and thus displaying the urge to draw. Okay, so maybe I haven't completely trained away the urge to fidget, but who cares! This is gonna be awesome!

Lee was, of course, just moments away from getting into one of the most important fights of his fledgling career as a tournament fighter: the quarterfinals of the MRCT qualifiers. As previously mentioned, a victory here would guarantee Lee a slot in the actual tournament, regardless of whether or not Lee won his next two fights, making this the important one. This one fight would either allow his career to continue, or would cause it to die before it could truly begin. It was do or die at this point, all or nothing... Hence the adrenaline.

As Lee was musing over the possible directions this fight could take him, the announcer had been hyping up the crowd, and introducing the fighters. Lee was returned to the present when the announcer paused to allow the crowd to cheer for his opponent, and Lee took the opportunity to scrutinize the opposition, stood about 20 feet away on the opposite side of the arena.

Hmm… Interesting combat garb. She doesn't appear to be anything special underneath that, but she did make it to the 3rd round of the MRCT last year, so that means she's won this particular tournament before, which is more than I can say... For now. She's got twin swords, which, thanks to sparring with Cinder- more like getting rekt by Cinder, but still- I have strategies to combat. Cinder's blades are more like scimitars though, while hers are knightly… And of uneven length. More suited to thrusting and parrying. Fitting, given that she's dressed as some sort of medieval assassin. Hmm... Possibly problematic, seeing as katars are also suited to thrusting, and suffer from a significant range disadvantage. Though that's mitigated by Cloudburst's burst, if there is one thing that I learned during my last spar with Neo, it's that a quick opponent could take advantage of that to turn me into a Lee-kabob. I also don't see any obvious ranged weapon, which means she's probably got a Semblance that either fills that role or makes it unnecessary. Hmm… I need to find an advantage or opening that I can exploit...

Lee, busy sizing up his opponent, was only half listening to the announcer as he proceeded to give Lee his own introduction. He did, however, notice when the crowd cheered for him; he may not have the advantage of being the previous year's champion, but it seemed he had done an excellent job of winning the crowd over during his previous bouts, judging by the volume and enthusiasm. Lee grinned and waved in return.

Well, time's almost up. Guess I'll just have to probe her defenses first. I've the shorter weapons, so I'm the one who's forced to close distance… Unless I want to just barrage her with the guns. But that wouldn't be much of a show for the crowd, nor is that likely to work; anybody who plans to fight in the MRCT and actually made it in last year is going to have a plan to defend against ranged attacks…

Lee thought he was doing fairly well at hiding his concern, judging by the enthusiasm of the crowd, but when he finally locked eyes with Neo, seated in the third row on his side of the stands, it was to see a look of concern on her visage.

"You have a plan?"

Lee tilted his head just a little bit to side while raising his brow and the corner of one side of his mouth just the tiniest bit, the equivalent of a shrug.

"No plan, got it. Any ideas from your passenger?"

The same gesture, as he turned away; thus far, the only times Lee had interacted with Summer while conscious had been during combat, and then only in the form of memories overlaying his sight. If Summer did have any ideas, he wouldn't know until it came time to actually implement them.

"So you're winging it then. Well, good hunting. I would say good luck, but that would imply I doubt your abilities. Just stay calm and search for your opportunity. You've got this."

Now facing away from her, it went unseen, but Lee's smile became a little less strained, and that much more confident.

"Mr. Enfield! Are you ready?"

Lee made eye contact with his opponent, and did not break it as he nodded.

"Ms. Talon! Are you ready?"

She grinned at him before closing the visor of her helmet and raising her hood, concealing all of her face from view… Except for her eyes. Those seemed to be twinkling as she very visibly trailed her gaze down and then up his body, before nodding her own assent.

"In that case, without any further ado… FIGHT!"

Both competitors were taken off guard by the sudden start, it being the first time they had not received a countdown, but the average spectator would never have guessed so from the speed of their reactions. That very speed, however, was slightly worrisome for Lee, considering that his own fast reactions were in large part tied in to his Semblance.

Okay, we'll meet in three, two, on- "Chup!"

"Espetar!"

Lee mentally swore as the sound of ringing metal filled the air, and his heart beat wildly. His opponent had suddenly shot across the remaining distance, and the longer of her two swords being drawn back to thrust was one of only two things that allowed him to bat the offending blade away, saving him from an ignominious flight.

Damn she's fast! Lee found himself thinking as he attempted to swipe at her with the same hand he'd used to deflect her attack, but was too slow as she simply hopped backwards out of his reach.

"Hey, you're not bad! Most people get skewered by that one!"

Lee forced himself to grin as he ran her down. "You'll find that I'm full of surprises!" A leaping, lunging stab of his own punctuated that statement. His opponent made to step sideways, but as she did that, Lee deployed Cloudburst's pitons, altering his momentum just enough that she was forced to raise both blades to catch his own.

"I figured those weren't just for sh-." She began to state calmly while forcing Lee's blade upwards, before being interrupted by losing her balance and subsequently catching a boot to the chin; when Talon had caught his blade, Lee, rather than engage in a contest of strength and attempt to force it back down, had decided to literally roll with the momentum, using it to perform a cartwheel away from her and clip her chin with his boot as he did so. With his feet back on the ground, and having come to a stop, Lee raised the gun in his right hand.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

Three shots were fired at Talon, but she had recovered quickly enough to dodge, leaving the 9mm Dust rounds to fizzle against the arena's barriers. Lee grinned, though, unconcerned; it wouldn't have been fun if that had been all it took to tag his opponent. Besides, he still had 14 rounds left in that magazine (the advantage of using 9mm ammunition for Cloudburst rather than the .50 caliber that Summer had used in her weapons, allowing him to fit 17 rounds in his magazines whereas Summer had only been able to use 12, and that by using egregiously oversized magazines). Lee was pragmatic, however; rather than expend his remaining 31 rounds, knowing that his opponent would successfully avoid most or all of them, he instead chose to reengage, a pulse of Aura surged into Cloudburst's Air tank providing him with a burst of speed to rapidly close the distance.

Shing!

The rasp of steel scraping along itself rang through the air, as Talon's dagger just barely turns Lee's katar aside. A grin on his face as his opponent follows her momentum and spins around his right side; a swiftly planted right foot and a well timed left elbow disrupts the stab before her longsword blade, held in a reverse grip, can be properly angled towards him, and causes his opponent to stumble, keeping the tempo of the match firmly under Lee's control. Continuing the motion, Lee's pushes his right leg off the ground and pivots, aiming to connect his shin to her chest.

Thud!

The impact of the armored part of his boot colliding with a ring mailed forearm, raised perfectly perpendicular to block yet causing her to audibly cry out in pain as she is pushed backwards by the impact. Lee, seeking to confirm the apparent damage, allows his head to flicker up towards the arena's monitors, and is satisfied by what he glimpses; Talon's Aura level, though still in the green, has a noticeable chunk missing out of it, while Lee's own is still nearly full. Lee's smirk is smug as his eyes lock back onto his opponent, whose own eyes, just visible through the cage visor, are scrunched up in a combination of pain and worry. Lee couldn't help but capitalize on that with a bit of mockery, opening his mouth into a grin:

"You're not bad! Most people get sent flying by that one!"

Annoyance mixed itself into the swirl of emotions going through her eyes as the duo began to circle each other, searching for an opening. "You'll find that I'm full of surprises..."

Lee's grin faltered, having not gotten as much of a reaction as he had hoped for, but he remained focused on the task at hand, ensuring that he did not leave an opening in his stance for her to exploit. However, Talon in turn was keeping a perfectly balanced stance, crouched low with both blades being held steady, despite the blow she'd taken to her left arm. It was quickly devolving into a stalemate, and while that might have suited Lee's purposes outside of an arena, well… Two competitors could only circle each other like hunters on the prowl for so long before the crowd would begin to get restless, and as entertainers, they were expected to keep the crowd entertained. Thus, Lee once again decided to just go for it.

Moving fast, Lee changed his stance so that he had the barrels of his guns lined up on Talon instead of the tips of the blades; however, Talon, being an experienced veteran, instantly took note of this and made sure to be anywhere other than where they were pointed. Four shots were either blocked or dodged before she was able to close the distance and reenter melee range. What followed could only be described as a frenzy, as both competitors began to launch attacks and counters at speeds the untrained eye would be hard pressed to track. What they could see, however, was the Aura gauges, and if one were to keep an eye on them during this clash, they would see that both competitors were losing Aura at a slow, but steady rate. In Lee's case, it was a slow but constant drain as he kept his Semblance active, eyes glowing behind green tinted snowboarding goggles in order to keep his reflexes on par with his more naturally swift opponent. Talon's gauge, on the other hand, was a little more erratic. In the end, it was decreasing at a pace that was on par with Lee's, perhaps slightly faster, but by watching the gauge, one would notice that it was depleting piecemeal, and perhaps infer that it was due to taking small amounts of damage from Caerulean's attacks…

Eventually, the flurry slowed enough that spectators would be able to see Lee, left forearm held perpendicular to his chest, with Talon's long blade caught on it.

"Eat this!" A stab from his other blade left Talon with no choice but to jump back and away, lest she be skewered. He was hardly about to let her off that easy, though, and once again closed the distance, legs bent and arm pulled back in preparation for a leaping lunge. This time, however, when Talon hastily dodged backwards, Lee did not hesitate before following, tucking into a forwards roll in order to preserve momentum. He grinned as he saw her eyes widen, interpreting it as surprise while he propelled himself into a "Rising Uppercut!"

Sombra just barely stepped back in time to dodge the blade, but was unprepared for the feet that landed on her shoulders. Lee used his new foothold to propel himself skywards, flooring his opponent in the process. As he neared the apex of his arc, the Cloudburst's pitons fired once again, embedding themselves into the arena floor. Lee grinned viciously as he propelled himself, the power of Air driving him straight towards his downed opponent, one glowing fist pulled back: "Meteor Strike!"

Boom!

For a few moments, all the crowd could see was a slowly expanding cloud of dust. And those who thought to once more look to the meters displaying the contestants' Auras would see that both had taken a significant amount of damage from the exchange. However, with Talon's being well into the yellow after the clash while Lee's was still on the low end of green, it was easy to infer that she had not been able to dodge. Yet, the sounds of steel clashing and the sudden repeated loss of chunks of their Auras spoke of a continuing clash within the dust cloud. For several moments, this continued as the crowd watched with wide eyes and bated breath, until steel clanged off of steel just one more time before a loud, feminine shout was heard.

"BASTA!"

With that angry declaration, the cloud was forcefully dispelled, upwards and out. Lee, quite startled, was picked up right along with it, flying arse over teakettle towards the crowd, and completely unable to see his opponent, who was presumably the source of the sudden wall of wind.

Shtak, not like this! C'mon, c'mon, c'moooooon… now!

Just as Lee was going for his 12th tumble, he fired his pitons… And was met with mixed results when only one of them stuck into the ground, the other merely glancing off, leaving him with only a single tether.

Oh man, this is going to chupping suck…

However, it was that or suffer a most humiliating ring out, with Neo watching, so Lee took the only real option he had: he triggered the reels, causing the missed hook to rapidly recall… While also causing the grounded one to attempt to recall.

Now, to explain why this was such a potentially negative thing: like any formally trained Huntsman, Lee had designed his own weapon system. And, as fate would have it, he turned out to be a proficient engineer and had designed it well. Cloudburst, by reeling the piton in despite it not dislodging from the arena's floor, was doing exactly as Lee had designed it to. However, the problem in this instance was that since the piton was not moving, that meant Cloudburst had to… Which meant that it was pulling itself and Lee towards that piton, and at a relatively high speed. Obstensibly a good thing in this instance... but when one considered that without a second line to triangulate with, Lee was just changing the direction of his momentum?

Lee was slingshot into the ground.

Violently.

"Ooooh, that had to hurt! And a look at the Aura monitors confirms that landing was as painful as it looked! With that one maneuver, Enfield loses his advantage and joins Talon in the orange!"

Lee grimaced in pain as he forced himself onto all fours, eyes narrowed in worry when he could not see his opponent… then he cursed as he was forced to roll sideways in order to dodge the attempted coup de grace, having been alerted only by the whistling of the blade through the air. Then his opponent tried again, and again, and then again, too quickly for him to do anything other than keep rolling.

"Rendimiento!"

"Tú deseas!"

Lee's opponent, visible once again, paused in obvious shock, giving him the perfect opportunity. With his Semblance preventing him from wasting any time, Lee released the handles of Cloudburst, pressing his palms flat against the ground in the same movement. Then, as his body was parallel to the ground, he pushed, lifting himself into a parallel handstand. By then tucking his body into a crunch and using the momentum of the roll, Lee was then able to swing his legs around.

Talon, surprised, was unable to hold onto her weapons, resulting in them being sent skittering off the side of the arena. However, that did jolt her from her surprise just quickly enough to leap backwards ahead of a rising, spinning uppercut, fading from view as she did. Lee's eyes narrowed in concentration; she may have disappeared from the visible spectrum, but to Lee, her position was clear as day, with the settling dust outlining her for all to see. Thankful that the announcer did not see fit to inform her of that, Lee made his move.

Lee, now brandishing Cloudbursts blades once again, attempted a one-two stab towards Arbor's stomach, only to experience the oddest sensation of deja vu when his blows were deflected by Arbor using a single hand. Caught off guard, Lee caught two retaliatory jabs with his face, before instinctively moving his head to the left to dodge the cross.

The feeling returned, and this time, Lee decided to trust it; almost as if he was merely a passenger, his body moved on its' own. Arbor's Aura was dealt a glancing blow as she was slightly too slow to completely avoid a sharp jab to the chest, and then another when the tip of his boot grazed her chin. A third when his heel scraped the outside of her arm. Lee stepped backwards even as his opponent began to lunge-

The scene abruptly changed. Now, instead of fighting in an arena, with a crowd of a couple hundred watching in a space capable of holding a thousand, Lee was in a forest clearing, soaked in a combination of rain, sweat, and blood as he dueled with a different opponent, this one substantially taller and broader than him, dressed in greys and blacks, face concealed, but obviously male. Lee's body, prepared, lunged forward, pivoted, and propelled… And smiled in grim satisfaction as the enemy clutched a hand to their face, crimson seeping through the cloth covering as he scrabbled for a grip on his mas-

"And that's the fight! Winning by Aura break, newcomer Caerulean Enfield defeats Sombra Talon, last year's champion and MRCT quarterfinalist, advancing to the semi-finals and securing his spot in the Mistral Regional Combat Tournament!"

Lee blinked; he was back in the arena, facing Sombra Talon, whose hand was covering the spot on her face mask where Lee had just clocked her: just below her right eye. The left, visible through her cage visor, was a vivid bronze and wide eyed in shock.

"Why do you look so surprised? The air was filled with dust, I could see you clear as day."

Now, she just looked angry, but Lee just sheathed his weapons and calmly approached, extending his hand for a handshake. "Still, that was a very good fight. You had me worried there for a bit!"

His defeated opponent sighed, defeatedly, as she took the offered hand. "Yeah, I suppose it was… Eh, there's always next time. You'd better be competing again next year, because I'll be looking forward to our rematch!"

Lee just grinned as he took a step back. "After this? Wouldn't miss it for the world, Talon." Lee turned, and began to walk away towards the arena's exit, when his stride was interrupted by a call.

"It's Sombra!"

"Eh?" Lee turned to face her again.

"My name. We sorta just became friends, or at least acquaintances, so you can call me Sombra."

"In that case, call me Caerulean."

"Works for me, Caerulean. Is that what your friends call you?"

Lee gave a bemused smile. "Well, three of them tend to call me 'asshole' more than anything else, but no, I have a nickname as well. Maybe I'll share it with you if I run into you again before next year's tournament, eh, Sombra?"

Sombra laughed. "Fair enough, Caerulean. Good hunting on your next rounds!"

Lee simply turned and threw a peace sign over his shoulder as he walked away, eyes locked onto a petite brunette/pinkette figure waiting for him at the end of the competitor's tunnel. And judging by the questioning look in her eyes, he had a little bit of 'splaining to do…


I'm alive! My deepest apologies to anyone who might have been worried, I just sort of lost my inspiration for a while. Then life got busy, and then I got started on a Dragon Ball Z roleplay forum back around Christmas and... Well, yeah. But, I'm back with a new handle to match my new muse, and I'm planning to keep working on this! Thank you to everyone who has read this far, even those of you in the reviews who didn't quite like the story! Until next time,

-Denkura

P.S.: If you're interested in that Dragon Ball Z forum I mentioned, google Dragonball Ultimate Journey Reborn. My handle there is the same as it is here, if you wanna fill out that referral box ;)