Chapter 9: The Semi-Finals

So far, we've had some pretty good winners. They've fought their way into this point and… well, here it is. The Semi-Finals! It was now the next morning and all the winners were allowed to eat at the table this time while the others had to eat in the lobby. They were eating the same food, though. Teeko was eating with the winners and Lawrence was eating with the others.

"Congradulations to all of you for a tournament well done!" Teeko announced. "You winners are indeed winners!"

"Yeah, but how come Kunimitsu and I are the ones fighting the cute boys?" Lola asked after gulping down a piece of her salad.

"Because you two earned it… for being the most recent winners since this tournament started."

"That explains why I had to fight an alien and a terrified cat." Kunimitsu complained, eating her pancakes.

"Now, now, Kuni. Don't insult Big like that. Just take the fact that you made it to the semi-finals. Now, as for the rest of them, they'll join my dragon audience and watch the feathers fly in this competition. As soon as you finish eating and have taken your 30 minute break, we will begin the semi-finals with… archery."

35 minutes later…

All of the winners were escorted to the competition arena. They were all waiting in one single file line while Teeko and Lawrence came out with 18 sets of bows and arrows. Teeko then settled them down to explain the rules to them and the audience.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen!" He started in an announcer's voice. "Welcome to the Semi-Final round, where the recent winners of our tournament gets to strut their stuff by proving them worthy of becoming champions. Our first part of the semi-finals begins with an archery contest. I have here 18 sets of bows and arrows with carrying cases for the arrows they can place on their back. Each case as 10 arrows. Each set will be given to each of you as I explain the rules…" He paused for a moment to allow Lawrence to hand the sets to everybody. "…Now, here are the rules. There are 18 identical targets behind me. The object of this competition is to get as close to the bullseye as possible. Whoever's in the half that has the closest locations to the bullseye will advance to the next round. The other half will advance as well for their efforts… just to be fair."

"Phew!" The winners sighed with relief in unison.

"Now, I want you to do you best and take your time. Take as much time as you need until you run out of arrows. Understand?"

Everybody nodded.

"Good. On the sound of Lawrence's whistle, set your arrows and begin!"

The crowd cheered as the winners picked up their bows, prepared the arrow, and aimed. They shot randomly, having some of them missing their targets. Gon was having the most difficult time.

"Why won't I hit the frinkin' target!" He complained as he shot another arrow, missing again. Bugs looked at him and chuckled.

"You just don't have the arm length, rex." He replied as he shot his next arrow, hitting the arrow half way towards the bullseye. Cream looked over at NiGHTS and Ace. They were hitting their bullseyes perfectly, making one arrow break after another.

"How are you guys doing that?" She asked Ace.

"It's all in the skill, Cream." He replied as he shot his second to last arrow. Tikal was doing just as good as the two were. This was impressing Sonic and Charmy in the audience.

"How in the world does she do it?" Charmy asked in a dazed voice. Sonic just shrugged his shoulders in response.

2 ½ hours later…

Lawrence blew the whistle to mark time. Teeko waddled over to the targets and examined each one. He whistled at their progress.

"Everyone seems pretty much even to me… except Gon. Since he did have a disadvantage in this contest, I'll just stick one arrow in his bullseye, just as a reward for trying his best. The rest of you… great job!" He announced before the crowd cheered loudly. Gon walked up to him and gave him a hug on his leg.

"Thanks, Teeko." He said calmly.

"No problem. Now, moving on…"

Later…

It was close to lunchtime and everybody was taking a little arm rest from their archery competition. Teeko decided to order chinese food while they were waiting.

"I never knew shooting arrow could be more tiring than throwing a boomerang everyday." Ty complained as he massaged his elbow.

"Tell me about it." AiAi agreed.

"I can tell you now that archery isn't something you do everyday." Kunimitsu warned as she was just relaxing with Lola, drinking some Momosa with her fruit salad.

"How come you two aren't with us?" Tails asked.

"Because they've been chosen to fight Ratchet and Kay at the end of the semi-finals. They're taking a well-deserved break right now." Teeko replied. "Now, your chinese food is here. Everybody come on."

Later, after their lunch…

"Now, it's time for Kinetic Racing! Winners, to the kinetic suit room!" Teeko announced as he happily escorted everyone to a very large room full of different kinetic suits. "Now, these suits are designed to fit your speical abilities. Only some of you will actually hover from the ground rather actually roll on it. They are:

A.) Ace Bunny

B.) Tails

C.) Knuckles

D.) NiGHTS

E.) Yang

The rest of you will roll on removable wheels. Gon, Bowser Jr., and AiAi, your kinetic suits are nothing but an armored suit with roller blades. The rest of you have ordanary kinetic suits with different looks, shapes, and sizes. Get on your suits and get ready to race in… Neocropolis. Good luck."

5 minutes later…

All of the winners, excluding Lola and Kunimitsu, were teleported to Neocropolis to begin their race. Teeko was nowhere to be seen, but they could hear him talking from a large speaker in the track.

"Everybody, listen up." He started. "Since there are 18 of you racing, only the first 7 people that crosses the finish line will advance to the Finals. I wish you all good luck." After that, he beeped off. This made them murmur.

"The first 7 people?" Bowser Jr. asked. "I sure hope I'll be one of those 7."

"Well, we have to do the best we can if Teeko wants to see a splendid race." Chun-Li agreed.

"Might as well get ready." Gon sighed nervously as he slipped on his skates. "Wish me luck, Kuni."

"Racers, take your positions!" Teeko announced. "On your mark… get set… GO!"

The winners sped off. Gon was well in the lead, hoverblading through the track. Behind him was Ty, followed by Yang, followed by Cream, and followed by Armor King. Gon was amazed by the others that were behind as he looked over his shoulder.

"Good grief!" He yelled between the roaring traffic. "NiGHTS can't keep up with a loud-mouth Tasmanian Tiger?"

"Hey! Call me a loud-mouth again and I'll be sure to shock you with this first attack thing I got on me right now." Ty warned angrily, which made Gon gulp and focus back on the track.

"My bad."

"Poor AiAi." Yang sighed.

"What?" Cream asked.

"He's racing in hoverblades… not his usual ball."

"Ugh."

Meanwhile, in Teeko's Chamber…

Kunimitsu and Lola were sitting back and relaxing with Teeko as they were watching the race from a tv screen.

"How is Chun-Li farther away than Ace?" Lola asked.

"Who knows?" Kunimitsu asked back. "A street fighter fights, not race."

"You got a point there."

"Well, Gon seems to be doing this for you, Kuni. He's way in front of everybody." Teeko said randomly. Kunimitsu smiled as she watched her boyfriend take the lead by far.

"I could've done the same thing, if I was in his skates." She said to herself.

"Right." Lola muttered under her breath as she finished her glass of water.

Back on the track…

Gon was still in the lead, having Armor King in 2nd place, Cream in 3rd, and Ty in 4th. The last 3 people behind them were, in order from 5th to 7th, AiAi, Tikal, and Bowser Jr.. It was a good line-up by the time they crossed the finish line. Teeko was impressed.

"Well, looks like we have a surprising line up for the Finals." He announced. "The first seven winners, come to my chambers. The rest of you, head for the audience for the two final battles."

Minutes later…

Gon, Armor King, Cream, Ty, AiAi, Tikal, and Bowser Jr. arrived at Teeko's chambers with Lola and Kunimitsu sitting beside him.

"Great race, all of you." Teeko said to them. "Have you played Kinetica before, any of you?"

"Maybe once." Gon replied.

"I played it 50 times in one month." Armor King replied.

"Sonic showed me how to play once, but that was it." Cream complained.

"I snuck into a kid's house just to play it, but his mom caught me after the first lap." Ty replied.

"GonGon never gave me a chance!" AiAi yelled.

"I've played it against Knuckles once." Tikal replied.

"I played it with Mario one time, but he pretty soon got pissed off because the controls were confusing." Bowser Jr. replied.

Lola, Teeko, and Kunimitsu sat there, wide eyed and speechless. They didn't expect them to reply with different responses and they were silent for about 10 minutes before Teeko finally broke the silence.

"O… kay. Thank you." He said slowly as he continued. "Now, Lola, Ratchet is waiting for you in the arena. You may start, if you're ready."

"I hope he'll go easy on me." Lola swore to herself as she stood and went to the arena, seeing Ratchet standing in the middle on the ring with his plasma whip in hand. Lola was shocked to see that he had no other weapons on him.

"Ratchet, where's the rest of your arsenal?" She asked in amazement. Ratchet pulled out another small stick and tossed it to Lola. She caught it and took a look at it. "What's this?"

"A laserwhip." Ratchet replied. "Megacorp saw how the plasma whip looked when it was upgraded to the V3 version and they kinda got inspired. So, they made a purple one, just for you. Oh, and whether you win or lose, you can keep it as a gift."

"Okay." She pressed a small red button and the laserwhip came out of it, glowing brightly and beautifully. "How about we start this?"

"Lets."

The lights went dim on Ratchet's cue and this made the audience get silent. The only things that were glowing were Lola and Ratchet's weapons.After 10 seconds of standing, Ratchet finally made his first attack, but Lola blocked it with her weapon and tried to slash him back. She scratched his right arm a little and she jumped over him in a backflip. This puzzled Ratchet. She showed a sinister smile on her face as she whiplashed his hand, making him drop the handle to his plasma whip. She used the whip to pick up his whip and grab it, turning it on by the time it was in her hand.

"You're outnumbered, Ratchet." She said to him behind his back. "What are ya gonna do now, cutie?"

Ratchet didn't say a word. He was smiling slyly, but Lola didn't notice. He snuck into his pocket and pulled out another small stick. This puzzled Lola, but still kept her serious face.

"Thought I couldn't think of anything, did you?" Ratchet asked smoothly. "Well, Megacorp made another weapon…" He turned around and held up his stick in a horizontal position. "…say hello to…" He pressed a button on the stick and two bright blue laserwhips came out, having one on each end. "…the double laserwhip."

Lola gulped hard. She has never been so nervous in her life and this made her so nervous, she started to sweat and began having a queasy feeling in her stomach.

"Oh, geez." She swore under her breath as she resisted her queasy feeling and regained herself.

Meanwhile, in the audience…

"Do you sthee how nervousth Lola isth?" Daffy asked Bugs. "That'sth the firstht."

"It'll be da last, too… hopefully." Bugs agreed in a solemn tone of voice. "I've neva seen Lola dis noivous sice I met her."

"She looksth like she's gonna be sthick." Sylvester pointed out, seeing her turning green.

"She can't be DAT noivous… can she?"

Back in the arena…

Ratchet noticed her face turning green, even thogh she was looking normal. He started to at ease and put his double laserwhip away. At this moment, Lola started to gag a little before she finally noticed that Ratchet's weapon was put away. Her face was turning back to its normal coloring as she sighed with relief.

"Were you that nervous?" Ratchet asked curiously. Lola nodded.

"Yeah." She replied. "Did you make another one of those?"

"Yeah. You wanna fight fair, since that made you nervous?"

"Okay." He pulled out a different small stick. It was white. When Lola pressed the button, it came out in a shimmering purple color. She cooed at it.

"Ready to fight for real?"

"Bring it, baby."

Ratchet chuckled as he powered up his double laserwhip and they began fighting Tekken style. They were slashing their whips back and forth. Ratchet barely touched her, but Lola was hitting him every time. One across his face, one on his left arm, and another on his leg. He was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. Lola saw this and stopped for a moment.

"Ready to be defeated by a girl, cutie boy?" She asked, putting her weapon away. "Or better yet, maybe you need this…" After that, she looked into his green eyes and kissed him on the mouth. This made him sigh lovingly and faint to the floor. She giggled seductively as she picked him up from under his back and winked at Bugs, telling him that it was okay.

"Whew! Good." He said to himself.

Later…

"You scared me for a minute there, Lola." Teeko said to Lola as she sat down next to Kuni.

"You'll never know what Ratchet might have in sleeves, but I was lucky big time." She replied.

"You'll advance to the Finals. Kunimitsu, your fight with Kay is next."

"Great. First, an alien experiment, then a big, fat, and purple cat, now a samurai cat. How can I make a living around here?" She complained.

"Kuni, chill out. Your boyfriend is a reptile that should be extinct. How can you complain about those guys?" Lola asked her. Kuni blushed with embarassment.

"You got a point. Well, here I go." She stood up and headed for the arena. She found Kay with his sword out and ready.

"A dagger against sword fight. I hate those odds." Kunimitsu muttered to herself. She reached in her back pocket and pulled out Yoshimitsu's sword. "It's a good thing I kept this nice and safe, just in case."

"Ready, Kuni?" Kay asked, getting into his fighting stance.

"Let's do this."

They ran up towards each other and began clanking their swords together. Kay tried to attempt sneaky moves on her, but she blocked them regardless of how hard he was trying. Finally, after 5 minutes of clanking swords, Kay finally made a cut on Kuni's right thigh. She screamed as she tried to cover her wound, dropping her sword in the process. Kay smiled with satisfaction as he saw this.

Meanwhile, in the audience…

Gon gasped along with the rest of the crowd, except Bugs and Daffy.

"What the…!" Gon started in anger. "How could she be hurt by a domestic feline from China!"

"Hey. It can happen, doc." Bugs replied. Daffy nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'm not gonna let that happen this time! Ohhhh, no!" He jumped out of his seat and dashed down the aisle of stairs and jumped over the wall, landing into the arena.

Back in the center of the arena…

Kunimitsu was kneeling down on her knees, holding her bleeding thigh. Kay didn't stop. He slashed her left arm and she screamed with intense pain again. The stings from the wind was weakening her every 5 minutes.

Gon was in the far right of them and he saw his girlfriend collaspe to the ground, unconcious, having a small puddle of blood under her arm and her leg. He grew furious and ran towards Kay for the rescue. He roared with aggression as he dash towards the cat, who was about to go personal and chop Kuni's head off until…

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY BABY AGAIN, YOU CRAZY CAT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, making Kay freeze, having the sword 1 inch away from her neck. He tackled on him and they began having a clouded fist fight.

Meanwhile, in Teeko's balcony…

"This is the first." He said to himself. "Gon is really defending for his girlfriend."

"I never thought that could happen." Lola agreed. "Bugs could've done that, if Ratchet wasn't so nice."

"That would be a riot to see there."

Back in the arena…

Kunimitsu regained conciousness as she slowly sat up and pulled out her dagger. She still cringed from the pain of her wounds, but hung in there. She slowly stood up and awkwardly walked over to where Gon and Kay were fighting. She stopped for a minute and observed in her head. After 5 minutes, she got her dagger ready and quickly stuck it into the cloud of mayhem and she was right on target. She stabbed Kay right on his left leg and this stopped the fight, having him collaspe to the ground. Gon landed on his feet gently and noticed the dagger of his girlfriend in Kay's thigh and was relieved. He hopped into her arms and they kissed, along with Kuni falling to a sitting position on the floor. This made the audience awe at this moment.

Minutes later, back in the lobby…

Bugs congradulated Lola by embracing her tightly while Gon congradulated his girl by simply lick her face, like a dog. Teeko allowed the other seven winners to come into the room and they congradulated each other.

"Another bout well done, even though it's called the semi-finals." Teeko announced. "The Finals are tomorrow, so get some well-deserved sleep and a good dinner tonight because the Finals are gonna be a lot more intense than the semi-finals."

And for the readers, here's the recap of the winners that will be advancing to the Finals:

A.) Gon

B.) Armor King

C.) Cream

D.)Ty

E.) AiAi

F.) Tikal

G.) Lola Bunny

H.) Kunimitsu

I.) Bowser Jr.

To be continued…