BATTLE NETWORK CYBERSYSTEM: The Manic Saga

Volume 2: Pokerface

Chapter 19: Semi-Final Showdown

"Hurry up," Knux yelled behind him as he and Miles were scaling the icy mountain faster than the other five. The others remained silent as he yelled to them, half because they were too irritated with him to respond, and half because they knew he was right. If they didn't make it to the top of the mountain soon, they would be disqualified, and they knew what disqualification really was.

As they were climbing, Manic, Joseph, Ryuu, Kinzoku and Miyuu were still contemplating what they had just been through. There were too many questions brought up here and not enough answers for them. This fight coming up wasn't a fight for survival to them any more. It was a fight to find out what was going on.

"Almost there..." Ryuu said as he could see the top of the mountain from where he stood. Gaius, why won't you tell us now? Ryuu asked the deity.

We're climbing right now, we don't want to risk anyone falling off...

...what does that mean? Ryuu stammered as he kept climbing.

It might be a little... Gaius paused for a moment, trying to find the correct word for what he was about to say, ...odd.

Just before Ryuu could ask Gaius another question, he heard a loud mechanism door sliding open in the mountain, only a few meters above the five.

"Made it," Manic said with a sigh as he quickly leapt up the mountain towards the open door, followed by the other four making their way to it. After a moment, the five fighters, along with Knux and Miles, stood in a dark hallway, its walls coated with metal and leading to a well-lit area further in.

"This is where the finals will take place," Knux said as he walked down the hallway, expecting the other five in tow, "People from all around the world enter this tournament when they are on their last act of desperation."

"What do you mean?" Kinzoku asked, wondering why this tournament was around.

"Anyone who joins this tournament and loses is killed," Knux replied without turning his head, "but the group who wins this tournament will be promised the one thing that is greater than riches." Knux winced at that, but barely let it show. The deities could sense it, though, and they knew why.

"The one thing greater than riches? What's that?" Joseph asked, wondering what there could possibly be greater to a thief than gold.

With a breath inward, Knux replied, "Power beyond their wildest dreams."

Finally, the group entered the arena they were to fight in. It appeared to be similar to the one they had fought at before, but it seemed that there wasn't a crowd to fill the stands. No one was even there, except for them. The only indication they had that they were to fight was a sign with the current roster on it:

Semi-Finals:
TEAM DEITY
vs.
TEAM WORLD THREE

With a sigh, the five fighters stepped towards the fighting platform, expecting to have a good fight with their next rivals. They all knew that World Three had been eradicated once before, but were the people they were about to fight just using the name itself, or did they really resurrect the crime syndicate?

"Hold on," Knux stated to the group as he leapt onto the arena floor and walked to the center.

"What's he doing?" Manic asked, but was stopped by a hand from Miles.

Knux stood in the center of the arena and looked up, as if he were expecting something to happen immediately, but it wasn't happening fast enough. Suddenly, a bodiless voice called to Knux.

Why are you interfering with the competition now?

"I want a change to the rules for this match," Knux said to the bodiless voice. The arena went silent for a moment. The fighters were standing still, as if tension and anxeity had taken them over.

...very well.

Knux nodded. "I request this next match be one-on-one, and that will decide the final." Another moment's pause.

...accepted.

With a sigh, Knux stepped off the platform and cracked his neck. "Kinzoku, you'll want this fight to yourself," Knux replied as he sat down and leaned against the raised concrete platform.

"Huh?" Manic and Joseph asked as they looked towards both Knux and Kinzoku, "Kin, what does he mean?"

Looking forward and past the stage, Kinzoku grinned, "Thanks." With that, Kin quickly leapt onto the stage and stood still, waiting for his opponent. Soon, a single man came from the opposite end of the arena, still shadowed by the dark hallway he came from. Then, within a moment's time, the man appeared on his end of the stage, a clean, brown business suit covering his body. He was easily half a foot taller than Kinzoku, but that didn't seem to phase him.

Suddenly, Manic realized who the man was. He had seen him at the diner that day he had first moved into town. He was in World Three?

"Been a long time, Kin," the man said with a smirk, "You ready for a rematch?"

Kinzoku merely grinned, "Let's see if you've really improved, then."

Instantly, both of them vanished, their bodies and attacks moving quicker than the eye could see. After a moment, Kinzoku slid back across the stage, kneeling down with his sword drawn, and the other man standing on the opposite end of the stage. "Didn't expect that, eh?"

"Heh," Kin grinned as he stood up, "You took my advice about speed a little seriously, GC?"

"Only to take out a traitor like you!" GC barked at the swordsman, ready to fight once again.

"Gah!" GC yelled as he was shoved back again by Kinzoku's attack.

"Heh, you're not going to get anywhere in a fight if you aren't fast enough to dodge an attack," Kinzoku smirked.

"Damn!" GC yelled as he pounded the ground, his eyes starting to tear up. He couldn't bring himself to dodging an attack in time from Kinzoku, but he knew he needed to. He needed to get faster than him, and he would practice every day until he did.

"Hey," Kin said as he offered his hand to GC, "we better get to the town banket if we want to get some food."

GC grinned, "You still say banquet wrong, you know?" The youth took the hand and pulled himself up from the ground. Neither of them were past four feet tall, but they were still the tallest kids in the village, with Kinzoku only an inch taller than him. With that, they hurried to the banquet to get some food.

"Damn you!" GC yelled as he quickly laid a hard fist into Kinzoku's abdomen, causing the swordsman to gasp for air. However, before GC could take his fist away, Kin grabbed onto it with his left hand.

"Don't leave yourself open," Kin said with a grin as he kicked forward into GC, hitting the World Three leader in the abdomen before letting him go to slice forward with his sword. It seemed that GC was too fast even for that, though, as he quickly backflipped away from the sword slice and returned to his attacks.

"So you're leaving?" GC asked Kin as he leaned against the side of his house. He had known him all his life, and they were both the best hunters and fighters in the village now.

"Yeah..." Kin replied sullenly, a part of him not wanting to leave home. However, he had already decided that, after last night, he would go around the world to get stronger, to make himself a better fighter. There was only so much he could do in this village to improve himself.

"...I'm sorry about your parents, they still haven't found them..." GC said as he hung his head down. Kin tied the last knot on his bag when he stopped and sighed.

"Hey," Kinzoku said as he reached his hand out towards GC, "Whatever happens, we'll always get stronger and fight for the greater good." GC looked up at Kin and smiled.

GC's hand connected with Kin's firmly, "Always."

Damn, he really did get better, Kin said to himself as he quickly parried GC's steel yo-yo, knowing full well that he was lethal with it. With a low growl, Kinzoku quickly leapt towards GC and cut forward, a slice appearing on GC's suit jacket.

"You got better, I'll give you that, traitor," GC said as he instantly appeared behind Kin and sent a hard elbow into the back of his neck, causing Kin to slide across the arena floor.

"Why..." Kin said as he slowly picked himself up from the concrete.

"What?"

"Why... are you calling me a traitor?"

"...you're sided with them, I heard about the story..." GC replied, knowing well that the deities were the enemies. They cared nothing for human life, they were savages.

GC's eyes widened in pure shock as he found his village in the center of utter turmoil. Thousands of people were fighting as hard as they could against each other, with three of the people there tearing through soldiers left and right, knocking them around.

"S-STOP IT!" GC yelled as he rushed into the fray, only to get knocked away by a hard stray blow from the side of a broadsword. GC was out cold when he hit the ground.

By the time he woke up, the village was destroyed. Corpses lined the field as fires burned the smoldering ashes of his home, along with many others. Whoever had done this was going to pay dearly. They had come to his village and destroyed his life completely. Now, he was all alone.

GC was cloaked by a tattered robe he had found, sitting against a wall in a city he had walked to. Starving and on the edge of death, GC looked up and saw a man dressed in a lavish suit, his hair as if it were on fire.

"Come with me," GC heard the man say.

Years afterwards, GC was now the right hand man of a man known only as Zennith, the current head of the World Three Syndicate. He had seen a poor man thrown to his knees only to see the man look up in fear at him. He had shared his pain once.

"This man doesn't deserve to li--"

"He does," GC interrupted, as he knelt down to the man. Zennith, his age catching up with him, turned his head towards the man, his eyes sullen and relaxed. He trusted GC's actions fully. He was to be the next head of World Three.

"Story about what?" Kin barked to GC, wondering what he was talking about.

"About those deity bastards!" GC barked back, his anger rising exponentially, "They destroyed the village! They destroyed everything we had! THEY RUINED MY LIFE!"

"THEN START OVER!" Kin yelled back, angry and disappointed in what he was hearing. "Hate only breeds more hate! If you want to take revenge against someone who wronged you, then you aren't any better than them! Start over and make a real change to the world, that's the only way you can grow stronger!" GC stepped back from what Kin had yelled. He was right, in a strange manner. He had let anger run his actions ever since, and seeing his best friend on their side had sent him over.

"That...that man..." GC finally said after the long silence, "he...he's..."

However, before GC could say a word, he was lifted into the air, and a large metal spike had dug through his abdomen, blood spraying from the wound.

"GC!" Kin yelled, but was stopped by the man behind his best friend, as he held a hand out to stop the swordsman.

"Since when did you grow a conscience?" the man holding GC up by the metal spike asked. Every feature of him was covered in black, but the man was tall and slender, as if he were a ninja. The only part of him not black was a lock of silver hair coming from the front of his head and his blood red eyes. "You're of no more use to me..." The man threw GC forward and onto the concrete stage again, the spike dislodged from the World Three leader.

"GC!" a voice shouted from far away as several threads had broken around the remaining members of Team Deity. A man with short brown hair had started running towards the stage, only to be stopped by a throwing knife hitting him in the abdomen, stopping him in his tracks.

"Enkou!" GC managed to yell out, tired from the fighting and weak from the wound he received. Kinzoku gripped his sword tighter and glared at the man.

"Heh... no need to be angry," the man said as he instantly appeared behind Kinzoku with a kunai at his throat, "you can't beat me anyway." Instantly, Kinzoku was thrown towards Team Deity with five cuts around his neck, blood oozing from each of them. Manic glared towards the man as he stood there.

"Who are you?" Manic demanded of the man.

"They call me Ace," the man said quietly, "I believe you three have met and bested Deuce before, so it seems that I might have a bit of practice if all three of you come at me at once..." However, Ace looked down at Kinzoku. "...maybe not. Perhaps I just spoiled my fun with those..."

"You..." Manic growled as he quickly leapt onto the stage, clenching his fists. He had thrown the ninjato off him as he went on. This time, he was going to beat this guy, and without weapons. He would make him feel his anger.

"So, you want to fight me yourself, then?" Ace replied with a sigh. "Fine, fine, let's go."

Sorry about the long time for the chapter, but right now I'm currently doing another part of Manic Saga, in the sense that I'm going to be reworking everything and basically making a second telling of this story. I think what I'll do is finish this telling, then finish the second telling and post all of it up on The second telling will be different in some aspects than this telling, but it'll still cover the base parts of the plot. So, questions, comments, feedback in general is highly appreciated.