Author's Notes: Hi, I don't have anything special to say.

Trenay: Thanks for reviewing. Okay, as for your question, you're right about the name thing. Namco put all the names in normal first name first order, except for Ling's name; the way Namco displayed it was wrong, her first name is Ling. Just so you know. Anyway, I'm glad you like the Hitomi/Hayate pairing. I can give you links to good fanfics with that pairing, if you want. Do you?

Dark-Venom: Really, Dark Venom? I don't give a damn about what you think about my story. If you don't even have the decency to tell me WHY you think that it's a sad excuse for a story, then you shouldn't even have reviewed. But I really don't care about your review. It was stupid and goddamn pointless and definitely was coming from the WRONG person. Try writing a story, instead of flaming others, who ACTUALLY can write, unlike you. But if you wrote a story, I personally wouldn't read it. You're a loser. And that's not because you flamed my story, that because you didn't even explain why you flamed it and why think so. Do EVERYONE a favor and leave FF.net, because losers like you sure as hell don't belong here.

Firestar: Thanks for reviewing. I totally agree with you.

Joey/Mai fan15: Well, I wonder what Dark-Venom likes, if he/she/it doesn't like this one. I bet he/she/it's favorite stories are lemons with Zack and Tina. Ugh. Anyway, glad you like the chapters.

One Step Closer

* I cannot take this anymore, I'm saying everything I've said before,

All these words they make no sense, I find bliss in ignorance,

Less I hear, the less you'll say, but you'll find that out anyway, Just like before….

Everything you say to me, takes me one step closer to the edge

And I'm about to break, I need a little room to breathe….

'Cause I'm one step closer to the edge, and I'm about to break*

- One Step Closer, Linkin Park

The crowd roared, as the announcer called out his name. Kisho stood there, motionless. He looked up, his gaze directed at the spectator seats. He averted his eyes, to the arena, taking one last look around. Kisho made his way, to the boxing ring. He looked up, at the spectators and again felt nervous. Butterflies tumbled around in his stomach.

Another fighter entered. Kisho looked at his opponent. There was a guy, older than him, who stood there. He had golden blonde hair, with a tint of brown in it. His outfit consisted of a varsity college jacket with the name of a football team printed on it, in blue and red and a pair of dark blue jeans pants. Underneath the jacket, he wore a sky blue muscle shirt. Kisho crossed his arms.

" In the left corner, we have Scott Dawson and in the right, give it up for Takai Fujimoto!"' The announcer began. There was a silence, broken by the announcer's last word. " FIGHT!"

As, the word was said, high-pitched rock music started to blast out of speakers hanging in every corner of the arena.

His opponent punched him, and finished the combo of with a high kick to his gut. Kisho struggled, as he fought. Kisho countered, and threw his opponent into mid-air and shifted his position. He attacked by leaping at his opponent. Scott rose to his feet, and threw his fist against Kisho's forehead. Kisho stumbled towards the edge of the ring, and fell to the ground. A kick was placed right to his kneecap, after he fell. The Japanese fighter was up again, and had taken his opponent down. Scott got up, and sidestepped, where he connected his foot to Kisho's face. Kisho almost fell, and was loosing more balance, by the minute. Kisho sidestepped and decided to attack. Kisho leapt at his opponent, striking with a powerful kick, which sent the American fighter to the ground.

He was tired, and sweat was running down his forehead. He scanned the crowd, again.

Kisho received a punch, and was slammed to the ground. He tried to get up, and succeed. The lights were too bright and everything was blurry, as he tried to fight back, throwing one wobbly punch after another. Scott hit Kisho, right in the jaw. Blood spilled to the ground, as the ninja staggered back.

Think quick, Kisho. Don't drop your guard. Come on, kick him or do whatever you can to counter….Gotta think quick. Kisho drifted out of his thoughts and back into reality.

There were moments of booing for the Japanese fighter when he couldn't fight back, which were hard for Kisho to shut out. He got up again and rhythmically blocked punch after, and kick after kick.

He sped towards his opponent's jaw and connected, striking with a left hook.

The American fighter sent a kick, flying forward. Kisho jumped back, his arms up to protect his chest.

He started to out-manuever the other fighter; Kisho came out with a barrage of swift kicks and solid punches.

The other fighter fell to the ground, Kisho looked up at the announcer before relaxing and dropping his guard. 

" Winner!"

¤

Kisho exited the arena, he walked into the shower room. He wiped the sweat of his forehead, and looked at the trace of blood on the towel. He knew that he was bleeding from his nose. He had received a hard blow to the nose. The door opened, Kisho didn't bother to look up at the person; It was probably another fighter, since five fights today were staged at the boxing ring. The footsteps came closer, to him and he looked up to see a man. Clad in dark business suit; Kisho recognized him as a tournament official, since they all were dressed like that.

" I am here to inform you that, the tournament participants have been narrowed to down from the 96 fighters to a surviving amount of 24 fighters." The man spoke up, his voice deep and was accented with Japanese." You are one of them."

The man came closer. He had an item, and in his hand.

" Here." The man said, as he handed Kisho a small item. Kisho looked at it, recognizing it instantly; It was an advanced mobile phone. " You will be contacted about your fights, locations and other various information by DOATEC through this phone. It must be open at all times. You will also receive a full list of the fighters."

With that, the man left. Kisho looked as she door closed. Silence.

¤

Author's Notes: Okay, I need help in ideas for the new fighters. The characters martial arts are not a difficult choice it's the personality. I've planned out a few martial arts that several characters will have; There's a Kenpo fighter, a Shorin Ryu fighter, a Kendo fighter, a Capoeira fighter, a Tae Kwon Do fighter and a Shotokan fighter, so far. You can suggestion a character, just give me a small profile, with age, name, fighting style(you can chose from the listed styles, too. If you want). PLEASE DO SUGGEST CHARACTERS. Thanks to HeavenlyAnimeAngel-Amaterasu and the angel of mercy for suggesting characters! Review! What did you think about this chapter! Okay, thanks for reading.