'IIIITTTT'S TIME FOR THE WORLD TOURNAMENT!' a blond man shouted into his microphone. He had black sunglasses, and a black tuxedo on. 'Join up, and you could be one of the lucky winners of 5 MILLION ZENIE!'
People immediately turned their full attention to him, as money is the route of almost everything.
'So, get your applications in before 6pm, at this desk' he said, pointing behind him to a small table with two monks sitting behind it, with sheets of paper and pencils neatly laid out before them.
'SOOO LETS GET STARTED!' he shouted weakly, his voice beginning to fade from all his shouting.
Another monk hit a gong, and people rushed towards the desk. They formed a queue, with everyone pushing and shoving each other.
A man walked up the street slowly, trying not to attract attention to him. He had black spiked hair, and blue sparkling eyes, which were unconvincingly hidden behind some sunglasses. He was Ryan. He had grew in the two years before the tournament, and hoped no one would recognise him. How everyone on Earth found out, he didn't know, but they knew that he, Matt, Sam and Liam fought the Demon King, and killed him. They knew that Ryan and his friends stopped him from becoming the Overlord of Earth, as it was all captured on T.V, and was now on DVD for 200 Zenie, but where his share of the money was, Ryan did not know.
Eventually, the queue got shorter and shorter, as the day dragged on, and he was the last but two. Ryan hoped that if he signed up later, everyone would have left, but it seemed everyone wanted to see the competition, to see if they could get an advantage. The two monks looked bored having taken names all day. The two in front of Ryan wore plain white cloaks, and were covered from head-to-toe in them, nothing could be seen of their body, or their heads.
'Name' one monk said lazily.
'I am Natra' one of the said quietly, 'and he is Yarum.'
'One kind of crappy names are they?' the monk replied lazily.
'Say that again' the other one said, 'and you'll be going home without your upper half…'
The first monk gulped and looked at the table, while the second monk gave them their numbers, and took down their names. The two turned around and walked off. As they passed Ryan, he felt a surge of pain in his stomach, and he couldn't understand why. It stopped as suddenly as it started, so he thought nothing of it and walked up to the desk.
'My name is Ryan' the young man said, 'and please don't let anyone know I'm fighting until the last 8.'
'Right you are, saviour of the world' the first monk whispered to Ryan.
He received his number from the second monk, and was told the time of starting in the morning. As Ryan made his way to the hotel nearby he wondered whether it was time for a change, as he couldn't be an international hero forever, and there was no trouble at all since Lek met his grisly end. As Ryan made his way into the hotel he was astonished at who he saw.
'Well well, long time no see' Sam shouted to Ryan.
Sam wasn't the only one there; all of his friends were, and they all greeted him minus Robert, Mike and Steve, who were skulking in the corner. They all looked the same since he last saw them, except for the fact that they were all taller than two years ago.
'Now' Matt said turning to the other three, 'what did you want to say to us?'
Mike got up off his seat and walked over to Matt. He looked at him in the eyes for a second and suddenly punched him in the face. Ryan couldn't believe it and walked over to Mike.
'What the hell was that about?' Ryan shouted at his friend.
'Stay at the hideout, your weaker than us…' Mike mimicked sarcastically, Steve and Robert laughing, 'when really all you wanted to do was beat Lek so that everyone would love you. You make me sick you know that? You're all just glory hogs!'
Ryan couldn't stand him any longer and punched him squarely in the face.
'You are just jealous that we beat him!' Ryan shouted back, 'we didn't want the publicity, how were we supposed to know that it would be shown on T.V and there would be a DVD that we wouldn't get the money for?'
'Aaaand…' Sam broke in, 'you got your ass kicked by Lek in 5 minutes.'
'So did you.' Steve said angrily.
'Yeah, but we didn't lose something important, did we?' Sam shouted at the other three, 'and we managed to kill him as well!'
'You know what?' Mike shouted, 'you can forget our friendship, and if I were you, I'd hope that we don't meet in the world tournament!'
Mike looked back at Robert and Steve, ordering them to leave, and when he turned round, he was met by a punch from Matt.
'Payback…' Matt said to Mike, grinning.
Mike muttered something under his breath, and walked off out of the hotel, with Steve and Robert following close behind.
'Why were they like that?' Ryan asked to the three remaining.
'Jealous' Liam said, speaking for the first time, 'jealous that we got all that publicity.'
'We better get some rest' Matt said suddenly, 'if we want to kick their asses tomorrow.'
Matt led Ryan, Sam and Liam to where their rooms were, and went into his own room. The rooms were beautiful, and Ryan asked as Matt was leaving him, how much they cost.
'They were free' Matt told him, grinning 'for us superstars.'
'Bet that P-O's Mike and Co even more' Ryan said.
'You bet' Matt replied closing the door behind him.
Ryan met Matt, Sam and Liam the following morning in the lobby, and they went to the World Tournament arena the following morning. The blond haired guy with the black tuxedo stood in front of all the competitors, just as they entered.
'Right, there will be a tournament untelevised, for the Last 8 to be decided' he said into his microphone, 'find your number on one of the boards and make your way to the designated ring, the World Tournament will properly begin after the preliminaries, so there will be no spectators apart from you.'
Ryan looked across to Mike, who cut his throat, signalling that they were dead, and Robert and Steve gave them repeated middle fingers.
'You all no the rules, and some of you may get hurt today,' he said solemnly, 'but GOOD LUCK!'
Ryan, Sam, Matt and Liam had no trouble at all making there way through to the Last 8, not even breaking a sweat in the process. Much to their displeasure, Mike also made it through with ease to the Last 8; he had seemed to get stronger in the 2 years before the Tournament.
However, there were two matches left, and Ryan and his friends were one of the few who stayed to watch it.
A referee held up his microphone and looked at his board.
'Will number 507 and number 233 please make their way to ring 3, and will number 211 and number 765 please make their way to ring 2' the ref said, before getting his colleague to ref the other match. Both referees got the names of the contestants, as it was to decide the last two in the Last 8. It was Steve versus one cloaked guy, and Robert versus the other cloaked guy.
'FIGHT!' both referees shouted at once. Robert immediately lunged and started punching and kicking his opponent to no avail, and nothing was happening in ring 3.
Robert tried to punch the figure where the face should be, but met thin air. The figure had moved so fast that there was an image of him left. Suddenly there was a kick out of nowhere, and Robert crumpled to the ground.
'8…9…10!' the ref shouted, 'the winner and advancing to the Last 8, NATRA!'
Everyone looked at ring 3, where nothing had happened. People began shouting 'DO SOMETHING' but neither man moved, finally the cloaked figure spoke.
'I have attacked him so quickly that he has froze in fear' he said pushing Steve over with one finger, 'award me the victory.'
'The winner, and advancing to the Last 8, YARUM!' the ref shouted.
Everyone bar the Last 8 dispersed, all downhearted at the fact they wee eliminated, and at the fact that the free matches were incredibly boring. The blond man walked up to them, with a board behind him, and a monk holding a box.
'We will hold a secret raffle, and then tell you will hear the results in the waiting room' he told them.
They all picked their numbers and waited for the announcement of the matches. While they were waiting, Mike stared at them, his eyes boring into them, his arms folded, watching like a hawk. Meanwhile, the two cloaked figures were in deep conversation, keeping as quiet as possible.
'AND NOW HERE ARE THE MATCHES AND THE LAST 8!' the blond announcer shouted into his microphone, in front of the crowds.
Ryan crossed his fingers, hoping he drew a good match.
'The matches are…' the announcer said, more docile, 'Mike versus Matt, Sam versus Yarum, Nantra versus Sam, and Ryan versus Kilhoon!'
The man named Kilhoon flexed his muscles at Ryan, and had a grin on his face. He seemed full of himself, and had no clue what he was up against.
'So, will Mike, and Matt come out please!' the announcer shouted.
Mike and Matt walked out onto the arena and looked at each other, not daring to blink.
'Don't forget folks, that Matt, Sam, Liam and Ryan all defeated Gong Wong Lek, the Demon King!' the announcer shouted.
All of the audience clapped and it seemed to make Mike more irate.
'So let the match begin!' the announcer shouted, before sitting down on the nearest chair.