Disclaimer: Nope, wish I did.
I'm back. Cool huh? By the way, monologues will be done in italics.
Rock braced himself for the impact. He underestimated Shinji, and now it'll hurt like Hell. He didn't dare close his eyes and because of this he literally saw Shinji Nikaido appear out of nowhere, ready to disable him with his Crossfire Blitzkrieg. Damn… I can't believe this is it…
"ATTENTION!"
Everyone froze at the sudden interruption and looked to the PA system and the announcer's box. Even Rock, who was injured, had his jaw open in surprise. Shinji however stopped his attack in midair and landed on the floor gracefully. His power had dissipated into the air.
"ATTENTION! Official news from the Judges and Mr. Kyo Kusanagi himself… Yusuke is reinstated into the match up! Resume fight!"
::Shinji glares at the announcer:: Shinji turned to face Rock, angry that his time had been wasted. "Whatever." Improvising quickly, he charged up a Lightning Ken aimed right at Rock. But something inside of Rock clicked. Earlier he felt it was over, but now that he realized it wasn't over just yet, the innate instinct to survive took over. Also improvising, Rock leaned back slightly and took both of his arms and pressed them at an angle against the floor.
"SHINPUU-KEN!" Purple energy rushed out from both of his hands and propelled him safely away from Shinji's raging Lightning-Ken. Shinji hadn't realized it until it was too late. He had to wait until the energy he stored up in his fist to subside, giving Rock enough time to think of something quick. He had used up a lot of energy earlier but he was able to summon a Shinpuu Ken within seconds, and coupled with the adrenaline that pumped through his system he had the confidence to fight again. Shinji's Lightning Ken had finally subsided and he looked up at the timer. He had exactly ten seconds to finish Rock off. Deciding not to tempt fate he ran at Rock and jumped into the air. He would execute a Lightning Ken DM from overhead and finish Rock off.
Yelling a war cry, Shinji unleashed all of his power on Rock. His body ached as he pulled on his reserves and he could feel himself getting dizzy but he kept pumping energy. Within a nanosecond the DM would engulf Rock.
"SHINING KNUCKLE!" Rock cried. He flew forward with his fist outstretched. He caught Shinji by his shin; all the while barely avoided the Lightning Ken DM. Shinji was knocked from the air and flew several feet away from Rock. By the time he had hit the floor, time ran out, declaring Rock the winner.
The crowd roared in approval and a standing ovation was imminent. The deafening cries of the audience made Rock smile. This tournament is going to be rougher than I thought… The last few moments of the fight had been a blur to him but it was definitely hard fought and painful. He looked over to where Shinji had landed but found nothing. He had disappeared during the commotion.
He looked around and saw his team mates looking at him like he had just announced he was the Pumpkin King of the North. "
"I did it!" He shouted over to them. Jenny was the first to snap out of her trance long enough to smile at him while Yusuke grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. He slowly walked over to them, his head held high. By the time he reached the bleachers, and laid down on the bench, he fell unconscious from his wounds. But it wasn't anything the EMT wasn't equipped to handle.
A short intermission was soon called and this gave time for the remaining members of the team relax for about fifteen minutes before anything resumed. Since Rock was too inured to fight he has been placed as ineligible to be on the active Roster. So now it was all up to Yusuke and Jenny. The two found out that Yusuke would start next and they both had wondered what happened.
"Eh, it wasn't like I really have the power to call who's in and who's out. I'm surprised that I was taken seriously in the first place." Yusuke said. Jenny could only nod and reassured Yusuke.
"Don't worry, you'll do fine."
"Yeah…"
"Are you sure you want to be doing this?" Kenji asked with a slight hint of worry in his voice. "Your team might lose."
Hikari looked to the floor as she sat on the side of her bed in the infirmary, made especially to care for injured fighters. She had been taken care of physically. Her cuts were cleaned and her bones were already healing at an accelerated rate even though her ribs were still bandaged. But this was the worst time she had ever been beaten, spiritually… he observed.
"Yeah. He didn't beat me and I didn't even touch him, so no draw." She said. Kenji heard the tone of finality in her voice. She was determined that Yusuke be put back into the fight. "Don't worry. It'll be okay! The others will be able to handle it." Hikari said with a grin as she looked up to her older brother.
Kenji smiled back and nodded. Even though the call was made, he could easily call the judges up and get his father to recant the judgment, making it Fio and Felicia versus Jenny. Now, the odds were slightly more even but it was anyone's guess as to who'd win.
"Alright then. Do you need anything else?" he asked.
Hikari only shook her head. "Go, don't worry. I'll make my way back into sidelines soon anyways, just to cheer my team on."
Kenji nodded and he walked out of the door. When he had finally turned the corner, the smile from Hikari's face fell away and the tears she had been holding back began to fall.
"I want first!"
"No way!"
"Why not?"
"'Cuz, I pulled out the longer twizzler!" Felicia exclaimed as she held out the red twizzler in the air in a victory pose. Fio on the other hand sat dejectedly with a twizzler that was only a third the size of Felicia's. "Bye-bye!" Felicia waved her hands at her sister and flew out to the battle arena before Fio couldn't say or do anything at this point except to enjoy the battle.
Felicia walked out and stretched her right arm out over her head with one finger extended into the air with a single flame sprouting from the tip of it. Her other arm supported the back of her head with her hand clasped onto her extended arm. "Who's next?"
Yusuke stepped forward and did his father's famous taunt and waved her forward with his other hand held behind his head. He was dressed in a red and white ninja outfit, courtesy of Mai, once she found out that her darling son had just been reinstated into the tournament. "Name's Yusuke. Remember it."
"Oh, and why's that?" Felicia purred out.
"I'll be the greatest fighter known to man one day, and no one's gonna stop me!" he said with a smile. "Are we done with the pleasantries yet?"
Felicia smiled and she blew him a kiss. Normally it wouldn't seem like a danger, but once the air that left her lips came within a few feet of Yusuke, it quickly turned into a small whirlwind of fire. Yusuke smirked and did a quick back flip, narrowly avoiding being flayed alive. He launched a quick elbow strike into Felicia's sternum, knocking the wind of out her. She took a few steps back and glared at Yusuke. "Hey! You weren't supposed to do that!"
Yusuke only shrugged and put a hand through his short-cropped hair, only recently cut before the tournament. "Are you gonna fight or complain all day?" Felicia literally pounced on Yusuke but he was quicker and he used his size to his advantage. He rolled to his side letting Felicia land her knee into the concrete ground. Yusuke gulped as he realized her knee actually made a rather large, and noticeable crack on the battle arena. Rolling away to a safer distance, he then quickly tucked his knees to his chest and jumped back onto his feet. and once again narrowly avoided a double roundhouse kick. Yusuke faced Felicia once more in an effort to track her movements. I might be faster than her but how long could I keep it up? Yusuke thought to himself. Think Bogard, Think!
"GLACIER POP!"
Yusuke blinked a few times in confusion. "Glacier Pop? But I thought…"
Felicia held out her hands and two huge columns of ice shot forth from her palms. They intertwined together and headed straight at Yusuke. Yusuke jumped into the air letting the beam of ice pass him and he did a cross up jump kick aimed at Felicia. Luckily for her she anticipated his counter attack and immediately rolled out of the way before the kick could connect to her face. She charged into him him and knocked him back a few feet with a palm strike to his Yusuke's stomach, sending him flying the opposite direction.
As the crowd watched, it was obvious that neither fighter will go down easy. Where as Felicia was much stronger and experienced, Yusuke was quicker and more agile and he was cunning enough to evade instead of trying to resort to brute strength. Meanwhile, Hikari made her way to Fio so as to cheer for her team like she had said. She had arrived just in time to see Felicia execute the Glacier Pop attack. She turned to Fio and was about to ask her what happened when Fio beat her to it.
"I taught her that move so she wouldn't be a one trick pony. She did the same for me." she replied as she watched the two combatants fight it out. Hikari smiled. She definitely understood what it meant to be well versed.
"How the hell did you do that?!" Yusuke yelled as flew into the air to avoid another Glacier Pop attack.
"I have many secrets, young grasshopper… now sit still so I could squash ya!" She yelled out that last part with rage when Yusuke did a one-hand stand on her head. He immediately launched himself into the air once he saw the flames emanating from her hands, thus practically throwing all his weight onto her head, and making her fall down. He quickly did a twist in the air and landed facing Felicia's back. He immediately stood up, his hands were up to defend him when necessary but when no attack came, he got worried.
"You touched my hair you brat!" Felicia turned around and her entire appearance changed into a very demonic visage. Her pale blonde hair instantly became a dark blue, almost borderline black and her eyes changed to a deep purple. Her fists were engulfed in fire and she didn't seem so happy go lucky as she seemed to be earlier. Felicia shot forth, her fist ready to come into contact with Yusuke's face. Clouded by rage, this didn't even diminish her speed or strength. However with each punch she threw, Yusuke parried and dodged efficiently without a trace of emotion on his face.
Finally after having enough, she jumped back and powered up for her one hit KO, The Demon Buster. Capable of blasting off the side of a cliff at less than half of its maximum power, it would utterly destroy Yusuke, or at least burn him a lot. Within seconds Felicia had finished powering up and charged at Yusuke.
"DEMON BUSTER!" Felicia yelled. She flew at Yusuke with her fist outstretched. Without thinking, Yusuke threw his own fist out and it came in contact with Felicia's, stopping it dead in its tracks. Felicia jumped back to a safer distance while Yusuke stood there; his face calm and his fist outstretched...
And then, the calm in his face was replaced with shock and pain. "Ow, ow, ow! That burns!! I can't believe this… you're just as bad as Hikari!" he cried as he held his redden fist in his uninjured hand.
"I heard that!" Hikari yelled from the sidelines.
"…" Yusuke gaped at Hikari for a second. His mind was torn between thinking of a witty remark or stand there at gawk at her for another second. Deciding on a third option, he faced Felicia again and began to charge up for his own SDM. He wanted to end this quickly so he could fight Felicia's sister since frostbite was easier to deal with than third degree burns. Felicia was now back to normal, so to speak, but her face radiated anger and she too was powering up at an incredible rate. The two of them stood facing the other with their hair floating in the wind, blown upwards by their charging up. Felicia was the first to finish their little race.
"FROZEN DEMON CUTTER!" Felicia hovered ten feet above Yusuke and the entire arena turned a frosty blue. Before Yusuke could block for dear life, the wind started to pick up from beneath him and he winced when he felt something cut his forearm. A small but noticeable thin line of blood could be seen. When he looked up, he saw sharp icicles floating and swirling around Felicia, who was practically tucked into fetal position. Some icicles had happened to fly right at him, cutting him across his body and clothes. Yusuke quickly dodged a few of them but it was too late. Felicia quickly threw her arms out and arched her back and all the wind and icicles shot at Yusuke. Yusuke blocked off a few of them but most of them had connected. He screamed in pain when a bigger one lodged itself in his left leg. Yusuke fell backwards in a heap as Felicia's SDM faded away.
So tired… I used up too much energy on those ice attacks! Felicia thought to herself in rage I should have went easy on those ice attacks and went straight with my own attacks!. Felicia glanced at Yusuke who seemed just as tired out as she was. She tried not to show that she too was tired and tried to control her breathing. Wait a sec… I could still do this! I have just enough energy to… Felicia began to gather up whatever energy she had left and focused it into her left hand. The red glove glowed mercilessly with red energy.
Hikari clenched her fist as she watched the sudden turn of events. Yusuke looked badly hurt and Felicia was charging up another attack to finish him off. This would even out the win ratios for The New Special Team. Hikari gritted her teeth. Why was it so hard just to look at Yusuke getting beaten down, when she could advance to the next round because of it? I… It's just… I… It's not me that's doing it, that's it. It's her that's kicking his ass, not me.
"YOU BETTER WIN BOGARD!" Hikari yelled out. Almost immediately, everyone including Felicia and Yusuke looked to her in bewilderment. "I'M THE ONE THAT'S SUPPOSED TO KILL OR MAIM YOU, GOT IT?!" Hikari yelled out again, but this time she was blushing.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my inscrutable leader…" Felicia muttered. "DEMON BUSTER!" Felicia yelled out as she charged at Yusuke with her fist, covered in red flames. She had perfected this move to be a one hit KO and now she would definitely win.
Yusuke narrowed his eyes at the incoming attack. He practically had no energy left, and if he did there wasn't much time to actually summon some up and use it. There was only one thing left he could do. Using his uninjured leg, he stood up shakily and used all the strength to launch himself into the air. He executed his father's Sho Ryu Dan technique, and launched her into the air, doing a five hit combo and knocking her into the air like a soccer ball. After the last kick, Yusuke fell down hard on his back with a sickening thud. He groaned and he could feel his head spinning. "Did I win?" he moaned out.
::Out of nowhere, Felicia falls on top of him with X's on her eyes::
The entire crowd went dead silent, until one lone man stood up slowly and begin to clap slowly. Several more followed until there was yet another standing ovation. Jenny was shocked beyond belief as she sat on her bench with her mouth opened wide in surprise. Hikari remain silent, since she wasn't sure whether to cheer or cry. Fio on the other hand was furious that her sister had been beaten in such a manner. The announcer quickly quieted the crowd down and announced it as a draw. As it stands, now it's officially Jenny versus Fio in an all out war, winner take all, battle for supremacy.
"I guess it's all up to me to beat you huh?" Jenny asked as she did a couple of backstretches. Fio on the other hand stood where she was, opposite of her, waiting patiently with her hands in her pockets. She took out her right hand and adjusted her blue glove.
"Don't think it'll be so easy." She replied icily.
"I know it won't be easy." Without another word Jenny launch a small version of her father's power wave. Fio rolled out of its path rather easily and walked calmly towards Jenny. "Talk about understatements!" Jenny quipped. She did two more power waves, one right after another, and still Fio evaded them and steadily continued her course. Jenny jumped into the air to do a back flip. Okay… let's try something else…
Jenny ran at Fio and did a slide kick, knocking Fio down with her right leg. She used the momentum she built up, curled up her right leg to push herself to standing position, and then launched another kick into Fio's chest. She quickly followed that up doing another kick to keep Fio up in the air, which allowed her enough time to land and do a seven hit rising tackle. Fio landed on the floor, a little bruised in the face. A small trickle of blood made its way down the side of her mouth, which she immediately wiped away. She began to walk towards Jenny, as calmly as ever.
"Oh C'MON! Can't you have the decency to at least look hurt?!" Jenny cried out in frustration. This is gonna be tougher than I thought…
Rugal sat in his chair aghast and slightly disgusted with what he saw, while Vice and Yamazaki stood next to him with the same exact look on their faces. Vice looked a little green around the gills and Yamazaki just looked downright uncomfortable. In front of them Yashiro sat there eating away at a small mountain of food generously brought in by the finest caterers Rugal could threaten, while simultaneously chatting away about his mysterious disappearance, his misadventures that involved a lot of tumbling around inside the cabin of a ship, and the disgusting food he had to eat while having been abroad. After he had finished, the three Orochi warriors looked at other with slight confusion in their eyes.
"So… all in all… you were kidnapped, while going out for some cigarettes?" Vice asked.
Yamazaki followed up. "And taken aboard a pirate ship somewhere in the Caribbean…?"
"And forced to cook, clean, and swab the deck?" Rugal finished.
Yashiro looked up from his small mountain of food and nodded furiously. "I almost got eaten by a whale too! And god, I had to eat squid! Lots of it! Nothing! But! Squid!"
The trio stared at Yashiro with blank looks on their faces. Neither of them knew what to say. After all it seemed, and it was always was perceived, that Yashiro left Shermie after he found out she was pregnant. But in fact he was kidnapped and held captive for almost two decades. "Riiight…" Rugal spoke up after several long minutes of silence. "So do you wanna join my team or not?"
"Sure!" Yashiro said as he raised a chicken leg in victory. "Here's to good times!"
Fio stood over Jenny, her fists covered in bright blue energy. She simply glared at her as she struggled to get up. She stood shakily and tried to hold her hands up like her father had taught her once before. Jenny tried to concentrate on Fio but her vision blurred, partially due to the blood that ran down from her forehead, after being thrown to the wall a few times face first. "Do you yield?" Fio asked.
As an answer, Jenny spat on her. "I won't give up so easily."
"Feh. Who does?" Fio asked casually. She threw herself to the ground to do a quick leg sweep, which Jenny barely avoided. Ignoring the pain she back flipped away. She back stepped once and jumped into the air. Once high enough, she used her leg to push herself against the wall to propel herself. Her trajectory was Fio, or her arm to be precise. Her only hope was to cripple her somehow and it seemed luck was on her side when Fio only looked at her puzzlement.
Fio only did a jump kick, knocking Jenny away. She hit the wall and slid down. Both Yusuke and Rock stood up together as a reflex, only there was something akin to rage on Rock's face. Hikari only looked away. She couldn't cheer on anyone in this fight. Felicia only looked on impassively but secretly winced at the pain her sister's inflicting on Jenny. She remembered getting Fio angry once and sympathized with Jenny.
For Fio, the only thing on her mind is this girl's defeat. Even though she's dishing out a lot of pain on her behalf, she's actually angry with Yusuke for beating up Felicia so easily. But then again, who isn't angry with Yusuke for one reason or another nowadays?
Deciding to unleash her DM she jumped back several feet so her projectile wouldn't hit Jenny at point blank. She could already feel her power, just barely underneath the surface. All she needed was a quick charge up, and she did so without hesitation. Her power was now at maximum, and Jenny backed up and winced. They both knew it was going to hurt… A lot.
Fio lifted her hand up to her face and instantly a five-inch icicle formed in between her thumb and index finger. "ANGEL HALO!" She threw it at Jenny, stunning her. Fio rushed in and began punching and kicking away at her. It was almost too fast for even the other fighters that were watching to keep up. As Fio threw her last kick, which sent Jenny into the air spinning, she marveled at her own version of her father's DM, the Chain Drive. It was almost as powerful, maybe even more so than the original.
Jenny on the other hand rolled along the floor and stopped moving. The fight was over and Fio was declared the winner. Felicia ran out to the arena and caught an unsuspecting and soon embarrassed Fio in a bear hug. Hikari and Shinji followed her out and congratulated Fio, although Shinji was much more hostile than before, since he was angry he was taken out so easily. Rock, Yusuke, and a recovered Chibi-Joe stood by and watched as the EMT workers started to unfold a stretcher for Jenny. Hikari, who saw Jenny being placed on the stretcher quickly pushed past those in front of her. She reached her before they took her away.
"Jenny?" Hikari wanted to ask if she was okay but it was pretty obvious she wasn't.
Jenny opened her eyes and she smiled once she realized it was Hikari. "…Hey…"
"Hey yourself!" she said and she then immediately gave her a hug. Jenny choked the pain down but Hikari realized what she was doing and let her go immediately.
"Your team did good out there." Jenny said quietly.
"Ditto." Hikari nodded.
"Excuse me miss, she needs medical attention right away." One man said to Hikari. She nodded and the EMT workers took her away, with both teams watching the scene in front of them. Rock, Yusuke, and Chibi-Joe stood behind Hikari. Neither of them knew what to say. The same went for the rest of The New Special team. Fio watched on impassively but there was conflict in her eyes. Felicia was obviously concerned. Shinji, well, it was hard to understand what went through his mind at this point but his eyes remained as cold as ever.
Hikari then spoke up. "Rock, Yusuke, Junior…"
"It's Chibi-Joe!"
"Whatever… Don't worry about her. She's made of tougher stuff." She turned around to face Rock, who was now the second-in-command turned leader of sorts. "You're not out of the tournament yet, so don't worry. You'll have another chance to prove yourself… but train your asses off, so this won't become a habit."
Hikari walked past Rock and the others. Soon the rest of her team followed her lead and walked away, with only a few steps behind Hikari. Rock wasn't really mad but he was indignant at the blatant insult. "Hey! Wait a sec!"
Hikari stopped in her tracks but she didn't bother to turn around. "Don't worry, I don't mean just you. We do as well. Next time we meet up, the fight won't be so easy. Not for either side…" With that last statement made, The New Special Team walked away with an astounding victory.
Painfully and slowly, Jenny opened her eyes. At first, all she could see was white and she began to freak out. Within seconds she realized she wasn't staring at the ceiling of her own room, but rather the white ceiling of a hospital. She took a long weary look around her. It was as everything a hospital room should be, every square inch was covered in antiseptic and ammonia, and the smell of hospital food hung in the air like the last square of toilet paper on a cardboard roll, annoying and but somehow unnoticeable until the last minute. She sighed to herself as the memories came rushing back. She briefly wondered if this was her first and last fight. Would anyone ever take her seriously again after that slaughter at the hands of Fio? She had the Bogard name to live up to, and as of now it seemed impossible to handle all that pressure right now.
Suddenly the door opened and Rock came in. He was still dressed in his battle torn clothing from the tournament and his eyes were bloodshot. He had bags under his eyes and his usual messy hair didn't look so stylish anymore now that his hair was ten times messier than usual. He walked in with his eyes half closed with a two bags in his hand. However when he saw Jenny staring at him like he had just walked in from the women's restroom, he realized she was awake. He dropped his bags and ran to her side and gave her a hug.
"Aren't we friendly this morning?" Jenny rasped out. Immediately she was surprised at her own voice. Rock pulled away and noticed the look of surprise on her face.
"You were out for almost five days." He said in a hushed tone.
Jenny's eyes widened at the revelation. Rock continued. "I was worried you wouldn't wake up."
"Afraid I'd go into a coma?" Jenny asked. That is so sweet of him…Jenny thought to herself.
Rock smiled gently and Jenny suddenly shifted uncomfortably, but she felt kinda woozy at the same time but in a good way. "Yeah! Your dad would tan my hide so fast if he found out I caused this!" he said.
Suddenly, that woozy feeling was gone, and was replaced by a mallet pulled out from seemingly nowhere. She sent a quick bop to his head. "Whatever." She replied.
Rock rubbed his head as he spoke. "Well, important thing is, you're okay and I'm still unharmed. You wouldn't believe how scary your dad could be. I never seen that side of him before…" Rock mentioned thoughtfully.
Jenny only looked out the window, watching the birds soar in the sky. "How are we?"
Rock stopped talking to look at Jenny. "Run that by me again?"
Jenny turned to face Rock again. "Are we still in the tournament or what?"
He nodded with a small smile on his face. "We still got a fighting chance. We got another match in a month or so." Jenny looked away again and Rock followed her gaze out the window but he continued to speak. "I know it's gonna be tougher but we could still do this."
"Of course it's gonna be tough. I'm a Bogard, everything comes tough to us." She replied bitterly.
Rock clasped Jenny's left hand in his hands. Jenny turned around to look at Rock again but this time they were looking eye to eye. "But it doesn't matter. You will win. We will win. It's not just you Bogards anymore, it's us." Rock's face was only a few inches away from Jenny's. "You know we can't give up now. We're in this together. We gotta fight to survive. Right?" Rock whispered to her. Jenny nodded slowly and she could feel the heat rise up in her face.
"Good. Now, I should be getting home and you should get some rest." He got up and picked up the bags he had dropped on the floor earlier. "Here's some breakfast. I was gonna eat it myself but since you're awake and all, you'll need to eat healthy food. You better stay away from the hospital food." Rock gave her a quick hug.
"And you better not stay away from the shower, ever again! Phew!" Jenny quipped.
Rock only rolled his eyes. "I'll be back later tonight. Try to get some rest."
Jenny nodded. "Get the others here also. I—"
"Need some rest! Now get to it or I'll call in for a sedative!" Rock threatened. Jenny could only stick her tongue out at him and try to get comfortable. Rock only nodded in satisfaction and closed the door behind him leaving Jenny to her thoughts once more.
Well, what do you think? Good? Bad? Review!