Chapter 6: Mr. Karate, meet World-Eater
An hour before the fight…
"Okay, people. The arena you're about to fight in is an aquarium. Just remember, the glass tanks are extremely fragile."
"So?" Andro asked, performing his daily ritual of blade-sharpening.
"If you break them…"
"Yes?"
"If…"
"Yeah?"
"Don't. Please don't."
"Ah."
************
Chan stood in the ring, watchful and alert, waiting for his opponent to come. Who would it be? The blond woman? The pony tailed young man? The guy in the orange gi?
…The psycho in the ogre mask.
The man strode into the ring, and bowed. Chan returned it, before switching into a martial arts stance.
"Just to ask," Chan said. "What's your name? So I'll be able to find out who you were."
"AHAHAHAHA!!!! I AM…MR. KARATE!!!!"
Chan smiled.
"Well, Mr. Karate, meet World-eater."
As if on cue, the spectral image of Chan's Stand roared up behind him, ready for battle once more.
************
In the stands (no pun intended), Ryo slapped his forehead.
"I can't believe this. You sent Mr. Karate up there?"
Robert shifted uncomfortably.
"Uh…We couldn't seem to sober him up, and decided that he would probably be too unpredictable as a Striker. So…He's going to get the crap beaten out of him, you know. But, we kinda thought he would take out at least one of them before he went."
Mr. Karate went flying, as Chan ducked a Shouran Kyaku and countered with a flurry of slashes from his Stand.
"See?"
"Hey! He's my DAD, okay? Have faith?"
"Huh."
"Oh, by the way, as King was to be the Striker, who's replacing her?"
"You, of course."
"But…How?"
"You asked."
************
Chan drew back to his corner of the makeshift ring.
His respect for Mr. Karate was slowly growing. Somehow, the man seemed to have a counter for all his moves. Drawing his Handgun, he let off a shot, only to have it countered by a Ko'ou Ken.
He brought out World-Eater again…
…To be brought down by a Keima Uchi.
Chan flipped up, knocking Mr. Karate away with a wake-up uppercut, before launching into a five-hit beatdown known as the Rage Buster, sending in a kick for good measure.
"KO'OU KEN!!!"
"MAGE CANNON!"
"KO'OU KEN!!!"
"MAGE CANNON!"
"KO'OU KEN!!!!"
"KO'OU KEN!!!"
"MAGE CANNON!"
"KO'OU KEN!!!"
"MAGE CANNON!"
"KO'OU KEN!!!!"
"MAGE CANNON!"
"KO"OU KEN!!!"
"MAGE…***Click*** Aw, damn."
The Stand-wielder didn't bother to reload, seeing Mr. Karate lunging towards him, preparing some kind of Whirlwind Kick.
"OGION!!"
The psychic leapt in, and flung up an invisible shield. Takuma ran straight into it, chipping a piece off his ogre mask. With a growl, he got up, ready to lay the smackdown on Chan.
He was promptly interrupted, as a spectral hand slapped him several times, while another rammed him in the stomach. Chan's sliding kick didn't help matters much, sending the karate master sprawling.
Quickly recovering, Takuma clobbered Chan with a flying kick, snapping his head back. Chan swung his empty handgun, pistol-whipping him across the ear.
Both clutching their new wounds, the combatants began to pace once more.
************
Ryan watched the battle impatiently, tapping his foot.
"Why doesn't Chan end the battle? He has more than enough power already!"
Andro decided to chip in.
"Ryan, Chan's a Stand-user first, and a fighter second. He needs to be able to concentrate, to be able to do anything. And right now, being in close combat makes it hard to focus."
Indeed, it was true. World-eater floated behind Chan aimlessly, as if looking for some direction.
"C'mon! Chan hasn't lost a fight yet! He won't lose to this masked dumbass…"
Ryan paused, wondering.
"Will he?"
"…"
************
Suddenly, after some repetitive circling, closing and circling yet again, Chan stopped.
"No more hand-to-hand stuff! World-Eater, sic him!"
"Uh-oh."
With a roar, the Stand lunged forward, sword-arm slashing, and fanged mouth biting. Takuma hit it with an uppercut, a spinning kick, and a knee, with utterly no effect whatsoever.
He was flung away, in a world of pain, tossed through the air to land…on his feet? Takuma drew his chi into himself, air shimmering around him.
A massive orange blast flung World-Eater away. Slowly, the Stand got up, and prepared to resume the assault.
"This isn't over yet, friend!"
"I'm not your friend, Mr. Karate!"
************
Looking smug, Ryo nudged Robert in the ribs.
"See? My dad still has some fight left in him!"
"Yeah. But he's having some problems with the 'Stand' thingie."
Even as they watched, Takuma was set up for a painful attack, as World-Eater grabs his arms, and Chan aimed his reloaded Handgun at him.
"Oh, he'll manage."
Takuma twisted, flinging World-Eater at its owner, who barely missed with his weapon.
"You watch."
King, as was her wont, said nothing.
***********
Chan rolled away from a double spinning kick, letting off a snap shot that burned a hole through Takuma's shirt. Unperturbed, Mr. Karate performed some kind of crooked punch, one that went straight under his guard and knocked the very breath of out him.
"AEGIS SMASH!"
God, he didn't know why he called it that name. It was basically just a close-in, efficient shield bash. Takuma was once again pushed to a comfortable distance, though he once again began to close.
Chan fired again. Takuma slapped the bullet away with his hand.
"I don't believe this!"
Just to be sure, he let off another shot, this one aimed lower. Mr. Karate swore, and dropped to one knee, returning fire with yet another of those blue fireballs.
Chan was getting rather irritated with those fireballs, but supposed he couldn't complain.
"World-Eater: PAUSE."
All around him, everything froze. The crowd stopped cheering. The faint trickle of water hitting the ground stopped.
Ryan, in the middle of his shouting, looked utterly ridiculous, mouth gaping.
Ryo, attempting to leap at Chan from his bench, was stuck in midair, unable to move.
***BANG***
Chan let off a round at Ryo.
***BANG***
He put one into Takuma's other leg.
Just for good measure, Chan yanked off the man's tengu mask, and commanded World-Eater to slug him in the face, before the timestop wore off.
As far as the audience was concerned, Takuma hurtled up and back without being touched, slamming into - and *through* - yet another glass tank, to land, unconscious, in a pile of splinters. Ryo was sent tumbling, his flight path altering into an uncontrolled fall. With a thud, he struck the floor, just outside the ring, wondering what had just hit him.
Chan, tossing the mask to the ground, posed for the cameras, both him and World-Eater pointing straight at the Art Of Fighting Team.
***********
"Did you see that?" Robert asked King, scratching his head. "See what?" "My point exactly."
***********
King nimbly leapt into the ring, to the appreciative cheers of several fanboys. Sliding into her classic Muay Thai stance, she prepared for battle.
Chan took his usual casting pose, gun aimed at his opponent, body turned sideways to reduce his striking profile. "Let's go!"
With a short bow, King flipped through the air, ready to feed him a Mirage Kick. Her murderous intent was suddenly cut short, as she crashed straight into his Stand's fist.
Shaking off the impact, she promptly kicked a blue fireball at him.
"VENOM STRIKE!!!"
"***Sigh*** MAGE CANNON!"
"DOUBLE VENOM STRIKE!!!"
"MAGE…Ouch!!"
King smiled, as the second strike smacked Chan in the torso.
"WORLD-EATER: BITE!"
The Stand's ghostly maw took a large bite out of the pavement, missing King. She was already far away, and firing off Double Venom Strikes as fast as she could.
Chan got his Stand to block most with its shield, though the occasional one got through. Growling, he returned fire with his handgun.
King's mind wasn't entirely on the battle. She wondered exactly why this boy seemed so familiar. By reflex, she dealt him a knee to the stomach, flinging him away as he tried to close.
Then, recognition struck.
"Hey! You're one of the two jerks who dropped a girl off at my bar!"
Chan's face paled. He'd been hoping she wouldn't remember that.
"And your friend didn't pay off his bar tab!"
Ryan, his face white as a ghost, tried to burrow behind Andro, who simply grinned and blocked his way.
The audience, initially rooting for the brash kid, began jeering at him.
"Oh, and I read the note you left for her. Pretty sweet, wasn't it, CHAN?"
That struck a nerve. Chan's face went black with rage.
"GAHHH!!! DIEEEEEE!!!!!"
He went berserk, firing away at King, not even registering when his weapon went empty. World-Eater likewise surged forward, slashing and pummeling
Of course, King made him pay for it, in the form of an Illusion Dance, and a whole series of backflips. Somehow Chan didn't seem to feel it, powering through the strikes like they weren't there, and hitting her anyway.
Still, they were having some effect on him. Here, a jab would knock his glasses askew. There, his gun would almost get knocked away by a well-timed kick. Slowly, the effects were adding up. King just hoped they added up fast enough, as the weird thing behind him tried to suplex her through the floor.
***********
"Whoah." Andro watched the fight in astonishment.
"He's really angry. I wonder exactly what he wrote in that letter…"
Ryan scratched his head.
"I don't get it. All he wrote was 'We're sorry we got you drunk. Something came up, so we had to leave in a hurry. I've paid off your bar tab, so you don't have to worry about it. Till we meet again, Chan.' There was nothing even remotely mushy in it."
"It figures. You know Chan. Even mentioning that he hoped to see a girl again is enough to give him a nosebleed. The fact that someone else knows it…"
***********
King was beginning to feel sorry for bringing up the topic. In all actuality, she had never really read the letter, but could guess what was probably inside.
However…She had accomplished her goal, which had been to make him angry. Angry people made mistakes. But then again, this guy wasn't making any she knew.
***WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM***
"RAGNAROCK BLADE!!!!"
King leapt over the massive slash, finally getting past the Stand, and ending up behind its enraged wielder.
Chan struggled to turn, as for a moment; his back was exposed to King. A Silent Flash made him pay for his error, moments before it was finished with a Mirage Dance that knocked him unconscious.
King adjusted her bowtie, and tossed a wilted rose next to Chan's unconscious form. Then, she turned, and stared straight at Ryan.
"You're going down."
Andro gave him a little shove.
"Remember man, you're the next one up…"
Ryan gulped.
***********
Slowly, Ryan got into the ring, looking like a man who knew his end and dreaded it.
Recognizing their favorite fighters, cheers began once more. Someone held up a "GO RYAN" sign, filled with a stylized motif of an ocean.
All this was taken into consideration in a heartbeat, as King smacked his face to one side, and Trap Shot him into the air. Ryan quickly struck back with his Drill Spin, crashing into the ground. There had to something he could do to even the equation. Here was simply too dry to do…
Waitaminute…An ocean? That gave him an idea.
King saw Ryan's attention diverted, and hit him with a Double Venom Strike. But then, she noticed that the boy was beginning to glow with a strange blue light, jacket flapping in a sudden wind.
Along the walls, the glass of the aquarium's enclosures began to crack.
***********
Andro looked at Ryan, realizing what was about to happen.
"Ogion! We might like to get down about…"
***********
The tournament executive clutched his head in his hands and began to swear.
The crowd, watching water begin to pour in, scattered to a safe distance. Nearby, several barrels of lager and soft drinks exploded, sending a sticky, wet wave to join the larger stream of water.
***********
A massive tidal wave flooded into the arena, consisting of water, seaweed and several surprised fish.
"THE
LAWLESS OCEAN!!!!"
"…now."
"Oh, damn."
King tried to run away from the wave.
An emphasis on tried.
It picked her up, and slammed her against the sides of the makeshift arena, leaving a King-sized dent in the armored side.
Down but still not yet out, King leapt through the air, bringing a foot down in a flying drop-kick. Ryan tried to counter, but the girl's long legs beat him to the punch, neatly cracking him across the head.
Ryan went down, sinking into the knee-high wading pool. King, landed perfectly, and looked down into the water, wondering whether he was still alive.
Her answer came in the form of a Water Slash, followed by a Wave Cannon.
Water WAS draining out of the place, but extremely slowly. Staff quickly hurried over, to pump the rarer species of small fish into supplementary tanks.
Still, it was more than enough for Ryan to perform his water-based attacks. Sloshing in the knee-high pool, the two charged each other. Punches and kicks were exchanged, and both fighters learned some quick 'bad ideas' about each other in a hurry.
King found out it was a Bad Idea to try to meet Ryan in the air, as he dealt her a quick combination, ending with a powerbomb that sent her crashing to the ground.
Ryan found out it was a Bad Idea to try and come in at King with the Water Slash, as she nimbly evaded it, punishing him with a short combo of her own.
King found out it was a Bad Idea to let Ryan get hold of her, as he slammed her into the ground, knocked her up into the air with his Shoryuken uppercut rip-off, and smashed her into the wall once again.
She slid to the ground, propped herself up, and wobbled as she tried to retain her balance. "N-nice... I'll remem... remember that... one..." she managed to say before collapsing.
Ryan looked at the devastation around him and whistled, before performing a few moving katas. Reaching down, he picked up the now-soggy bill, and tore it in half, before flashing a gleaming smile to the audience.
Fortunately, not everything was shattered. The tanks more than thirty feet away from Ryan had been spared. Of course, the aquarium would still cost an incredible amount of money to repair.
***************
"I TOLD YOU!!! We should have disqualified him long ago!!!"
The manager was NOT happy.
"Every one of his attacks cause environmental damage, and cost us a crapload of cash. Don't you think we should drop him from the roster?"
His assistant tossed him an envelope, in way of replying.
"What's this?"
"Cash. We made it by betting on him."
The manager decided to shut up.
***************
"So, you're Robert Garcia."
"Yeah. And you're Ryan."
"How'd you know?"
"I've watched every one of your matches. I look forward to beating you."
"It won't be so easy."
"We shall see."
Robert and Ryan began circling, each in his respective fighting stance. They closed, beginning the time-honored dance of death.
Robert lashed out with a Ryuuhan Shuu, only to be knocked back by an Axe kick. Ryan's follow-up combo was stopped cold, as a Gen'ei Ky struck his face.
Ryan caught Robert's foot, and sent him spinning, only to be kicked again as the man fell. Robert flung a fireball, which promptly rang off Ogion's psychic shield.
"Yo, Ryo! A little help here?"
"Coming!"
Ryo flung an overhead projectile, forcing Ryan to duck straight into a right hook.
Rolling away, Ryan rubbed his new bruise, spitting out a tooth.
"You're good…I like a challenge."
"You're not too bad yourself."
Then, they came in fast and hard, fists and feet battering and pummeling. The action speeded up, as both warriors went into high gear.
The sound of multiple impacts blurred into a single 'thwackthwackthwackthwack' hum. It was impossible to make up who was who. Occasionally, someone could make up that that was Ryan, recovering from a backfist, and that was Robert, charging up for yet another projectile…
Still, it was impossible to get more than scattered glimpses of the battle. However, from the amount of damage the two were dealing to each other, the battle couldn't last much longer…could it?
It had to end somehow.
Suddenly, one of the blurs stumbled, and the other pounced on it, letting off attacks in quick succession. Ryan had the upper hand, and wasn't letting go.
"STORM OF VENEGANCE!!!"
There was a sudden intake of breath among the audience, who had witnessed Ryan's deadly finishing tactic before. Robert blocked, knowing it was already too late…
But nothing happened. No storm clouds, no rain, and no lightning.
"Damn…I keep forgetting it doesn't work indoors…"
Seizing the advantage, Robert let Ryan have it with his OWN super.
"SDM RYUUKO RANBU!!!"
All went white as Robert glided forward, and pummeled Ryan into dreamland
Stepping on Ryan's back, Robert gave the crowd a "V-for-victory" sign, while massaging his ribs with his free hand.
**************
Andro, watching the new turn of events, broke down into laughter.
"MWAHAHAHA!!! It's MY turn!"
Ogion shook his head.
"I don't know what Chan saw in this sociopath…"
**************
Andro faced off against Robert, blades already drawn. A razor-sharp edge glinted on each one.
"Bye- bye, Robert Garcia," Andro said, weapons weaving a pathway through the air. He tossed his blade and then dove in for a lunge to begin the fight.
Robert settled down quick enough, blocking the projectile and rolling away from the lunge. Unfortunately, he underestimated the blade's reach. The deep gash that was ripped into his thigh sprayed his blood in a crimson arc, painting his foe and the wall behind him.
Andro smiled again. "First Blood." he stated grimly. Robert started to worry.
**************
This fight couldn't possibly have been more different than the straight-up pummeling of the Ryan/Robert fight.
Ryan and Robert had been trained in dojos, instilling in them several basic courtesies in battle: No kicks to the crouch, no hitting an opponent when he was down, etcetra.
In the first thirty seconds, Andro broke everyone of those rules, and more besides. He brought Robert down with a football tackle, got his blades out, and began slashing. After having his jacket shredded, Robert got a foot under Andro, and promptly sent him into the air.
The fighter kicked off the ceiling, diving down towards the man. Robert quickly flung up one of his famous energy shields, searing Andro's suit. It didn't do him any good, either.
Andro tossed his blade yet again, and Robert caught it by reflex.
"Ha!"
Then, he saw Andro charging in, ready to perform a very familiar super. His eyes glowed with a fiendish red light, and two blades were in hand once again.
"Oh."
"THE FINAL SHOWDOWN!!!"
Robert tried to block, but quickly found himself studded with knives. Andro slid right pass him, arm out in classic anime position.
For a moment, there was silence, as both fighters remained frozen.
Then, slowly, Robert sank to his knees, and hit the floor.
A thunderous ovation began, as what had happened sank in.
Andro did a victory pose for the fans, and began strolling out of the ring… To feel his leg caught by a bloodied hand.
"Why…Why did we lose?" Robert gasped, clinging on to consciousness.
Andro smiled, an almost kindly one.
"You, and the rest of your team, learned to fight in nice, clean training centers. Me…"
He turned, glancing at his battered teammates.
"Unlike my friends, I learned to fight on the streets."
"That's…that's…"
Robert couldn't find anything to say in return. But of course, it didn't really matter. The DHS team had won.
(Whew. There goes the Art Of Fighting Team. I hope that this battle was an accurate representation of them. As always, all comments are welcome, as well as suggestions on the next battle. As the school term has reopened, my updates will slow down, but never fear, I'll write this story till the end. Also, I'll post the biographies as soon as I can. However, I'm thinking of skipping the fourth match, and going straight to the fifth…Sigh.)
As always, please R&R. Thank you very much, and bye!