Chapter 37: Death Combat!: The Earth King
"God, that took so long than it needed to." Brawler was walking alongside with his friends to their room; popping his knuckles in annoyance.
"Well, you did wanted to finish the job once and for all. It's kind of your own doing." Said Swordfighter.
"Hey, I only steamed through it, because I knew if we didn't get it done, we'd have to do it later!"
"Guy's let's not fight. It's done and over with. Let's just forget about it." Gunner tried her best to dissuade the pair from bickering, she'd had enough of that when they were working together. "Can someone please remind me why we're going to our dorm right now?"
"We're checking on if the crystal ball is activate." Answered the fist-fighter. "Our little treasure is in our room, we all agreed on that. Remember?"
"Oh…yeah, we did that." Muttered the female Mii.
"Let's just hope this goes smoothly." Replied Swordfighter as he opened the door to their room. All three Newcomers piled up inside to find the chest but it wasn't in its usual spot.
"Um, where's the box? We didn't lose it did we?" Gunner spoke with worry.
"It's…oh that's right." Brawler walked over to his bed, and pulled the chest from underneath the bed frame. "I hid it under here for safe keeping."
The trio circled around the container. "Are you guys ready?" Asked the blade wielder. Gunner and Brawler nodded. "Alright, let's do it. Open it."
The black-haired fighter unlocked, and flipped over the lid of the chest. What they found confirmed their suspicions.
Or at the very least confirmed Brawler's suspicion.
"Guys, is glowing orange." Brawler said.
"I don't see it glowing." Replied Gunner. "This is what happened last time"
"That's because only one of us can see it at one time." Sword spoke in Gunner's ear. "I saw white last time, Brawler saw orange this time, and you'll probably see blue next time."
"Hmmm, I think I'm seeing a correlating to the colors we see and the gems we contributed to the creation of this…ball." Gunner gestured to the artifact. "Do you think it's possible we we're meant to get those gems? Like it was our destiny or something?"
"Don't fool yourself." Grunted Brawler. "The concept of destiny, is just some B.S. nonsense to make people feel like they're important. It's all just circumstance cupcake. Now let's get this show over with." The fist-fighter reached into the box, ready to touch the shiny sphere.
"Brawler, wait-" Gunner tried to prevent her friend from grabbing the object, but he'd ignored the girl's pleas.
The room was enveloped by an orange light; like déjà vu, holograms appeared all over the area: various punching bags, microphones, and boxing gloves hung from the ceiling, Shelves of trophies and ribbons were attached to the wall, and 4 figures in cloaks blocked the door-preventing their exit.
"Brawler what was that for?!" Sword yelled as his friend whiles the fist-fighter was searching the floor.
"We all agreed to all touch the stone and play the games it presented to each of us. Why are you complaining? You're not planning on backing out of the plan are you?"
Swordfighter shook his head. "Of course not! I'm just…oh god, why'd did you activate the gem immediately? We could have time to prepare-"
"For what?" Interrupted Brawler. "We can't escape from the room once this damn gem has been activated, we did everything; the exits has been cut off and electronic/verbal communication does not work outside of the room during the game. I should know because Gunner and I tried that. You're just jumpy that I took the initiative."
"Okay, maybe you have a point there, but you should have waited for us to agree with the activation before you touched it! I think me and Gunner here deserve an apology." Sword yelled in the Mii's face.
"You're right. I'm sorry you're such a whiny bitch." Brawler said to Sword.
"Listen here you brow-furrowed miserable grunt. I-"
"Please, you two! Don't fight!" Gunner went in between the Brawler and Swordfighter's space before things can escalate further. "Can we focus on completing the game at hand?"
Sword calm down, putting his hands at his sides. "Fine. Let's get this over with. Now where is that controller?"
"Found it." Brawler said, his head turned over to where the holographic screen was floating in mid-air. Below the screen, was the game controller; the device to their amusement, was completely made out of gold.
The fist-fighter walked over the controller and picked it up with his hand, as he caressed it with his fingers; he gave Swordfighter a nasty smirk. "Looks like mine's better that yours."
The Mii turned his attention to the screen, oblivious to fact that Gunner was holding the blade wielder back in order to prevent a deadly maiming from taking place. The title-Brawler thought-was interesting to say the least: Death Battle: The Fight of the Elements. It was called.
'Let's hope this is better than Sword's trial, the scuba diver game was just plain tedious.' Thought Brawler as he pressed the start button.
The holographic screen showed a text box that amused the fist-fighter somewhat, it said:
You are Kung Fury, a man who had lost everything after he had been accused for a crime he didn't commit. In order to reclaim your reputation, you have to defeat the four elemental masters to gain ownership of the evidence that'll prove your innocence: The Earth King, the Water Princess, the Air Assassin, And the Fire Tyrant. Kill them all and you'll become victorious.
Well the premise is certainly promising, after reviewing the control schemes, Brawler pressed start again, with all three Mii's gathering in front of the screen. The graphics, unlike last time, was a low polygon texture (Similar to the N64 and PS1 games they had in the game.) instead of 2D sprites.
A cut-scene of a fat man, wearing a suit and bowler hat grabbed the Mic that has hanging off from the ceiling. He was standing in front of a podium of some sort. "Hello everybody, are we ready for a show?"
The camera panned out to a large coliseum; there were hundreds if not thousands of people in rags and make-ship armor cheering on. Based on the setting, whatever event was taking place, it seemed to be illegal.
"I thought so! We got a lucky contender for tonight! He's has been through the fires of hell himself. Give your hands up for Kung Fury!"
On the left side of the arena, the gates opened to reveals a muscular man, with black hair, full on beard and mustache, with an eye patch covering his left eye. The attire he was wearing was that off a karate outfit, only it was tattered and ripped in certain places, implying he's been fighting for a long time.
"Good thing I'm not playing as some wimpy diver." Commented Brawler.
"Look on muscles on that guy! They're so huge!" Replied Gunner.
"Is this how you imagined yourself in the next ten years Brawler?" Joked Swordfighter.
"Get rid of the eye patch and the tattered clothes and I would say yes."
The announcer cleared his throat before speaking again. "And on this corner, we have the one who cannot be moved, the one who is richer than a 1000 emperors. Give it up for the EARTH KING!"
The right gate of the arena opened, and a slouched man came out of the shadows. A young adult, wearing: glasses, green robes, and sandals waved to the crowd. The king was annoying; (At least in Brawler's eyes) He was like the living embodiment of the nerd stereotype, giving out a dorky smile that made the trio cringe under his ugly gaze.
"NYA! Hello my subjects *snort* nice to meet you today!" The royal said in a nasally voice. "It's me! The *snort* the wonderful Earth Kinnnngggggg…Um, what's with the silence? Aren't you going to applause?"
The crowd stayed silent, sporting on dead-panned looks that match each of the Mii's expressions. "Oh, I get it! Let me sing you a song of my endeavors! Ohhh-OH!" The king took a breath in order to prepare for his song, but was taken aback when he felt a pain in his abdomen. "Oh! My hernia! This is the *snort* worst day ever."
"I'm going to murder this son of a bitch." Brawler said without hesitation or emotion.
"Oh dammit, not this crap again." The announcer sighed as he cover his eyes, remembering why he dreaded this moment. "Every time I swear to god…never mind." The man regained his bearings and grabbed the mic again "The battle begins in 3…2…1… FIGHT!"
The Earth King's lips grew outward, showcasing his crooked teeth as he laughed. "Now prepare vile scum! For you shall not survive my DUST STORM!" He raised his hands in his opponent's direction. Dust surrounded Kung Fury, swirling around him at a fast pace. When the attack ended, Kung's clothes was coated with brown stains.
"Ha! Take that! You're *snort* attire is dirty, you have no chance against me! Give up whiles you still can!"
"Brawler." Swordfighter spoke, not even turning his head from the screen. "You have the power to end this. Do it."
"Way ahead of you." Brawler leaned his thumb against the analogue stick, making Kung Fury speed towards his adversary in a meaningful sprint. Due to the Earth King being distracted by his own hysterical laughter. He couldn't avoid being grabbed by the throat from his enemy. The fighter lifted the master into the air, the royal cried tears of panic as he realized the situation at hand.
"No! Wait! PLLLEEEAAASSSSEEEE!"
Kung Fury ignored the royal's pleas. The fighter gritted his teeth in anger as he embedded his hand into the Earth King's abdomen.
"YEEAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Gunner and Sword looked away from the screen, feeling nauseous at the brutality; even the hardened scum sitting on their seats were horrified by what they seen.
"Did you… actually disembowel that guy?" the blade wielder asked closing his eyes.
"I'm holding onto his intestines, what do you think?" Brawler spat at his friend. "I took life at the balls, and ended this quickly like you said. What the hell's with your attitude?"
"Yes! Quickly. Not like this. It's too violent"
"Yeah, how could you do this against someone else?" Questioned the girl.
The fist-fighter rolled his eyes "I stated before I was going to murder this man, his whole character pisses me off just by thinking about him. Besides, this game is called: Death Battle for a reason. Mercy is not an option here." Kung Fury tossed the dead body to the side; the carcass of the Earth King still twitching.
"I get that, but why didn't you kill him painlessly? You could have snapped his neck or something!"
"Oh, give it a rest Gunner!" Brawler said to Gunner. "This is a video game, none of it's real. The rules of morality are much different in the virtually world than in real life."
"Hold on, I think something's happening." The blonde pointed to the body of the royal, ta yellow light was emanating from the corpse. The yellow glow flew from the Earth King and did circles around Kung Fury at a quick place. When it stopped above him, the light went downward entering the fighter's chest.
Fury eyes glowed yellow as clumps of rock were circling his hands, this only lasted for a moment till he got back to normal.
Congratulations! You collected the soul of the Earth King.
This will allow you to gain the power of Geokinesis!
You got one element, three more to go.
The text box said to Brawler, to which the fist-fighter smiled in delight. 'So that geek was useful after all. I will definitely make good use of the Earth than he ever did.'
The announcer grabbed the Mic again, taking in a big breath before shouting. "Our winner is…KUNG FURY!"
The crowd hesitantly clapped for the karate man as he walked back towards his gate, he spit in the direction of the Earth King before heading inside, to which the screen turned to black.
"I don't think I like this Kung Fury character." Muttered Gunner.
"Well, I do!" Piped Brawler, he's like me, if I took a year's supply of steroids and ass-kicking lessons."
"Yeah, of course you'll like him." Sword rolled his eyes. "Brawler heads up, the screen is changing."
The trio looked at the game to see that Kung Fury was now inside a large cylinder-like cell, with various skeletons and punching bags placed around the floor.
The text box appeared again.
Now that you have some free time before you're transported to the next battle, care to hone your Geokinetic powers?
Yes? No?
"Is it even a choice? There's no way I'm passing up this!" Said Brawler as he pressed yes; allowing another text box to appear on how to create spikes from the ground. "Hey, whiles I'm practicing, can you guys care to get my beer?"
"Beer? You have beer in the room?" Asked Sword.
"Yes, I got it beforehand, I hid it under my bed."
"Why do you need beer?" Questioned Gunner.
"Because I need it." Brawler said annoyingly "Are you guys going to get it, or are you going to give me that dumb look?"
Sword growled under his breath as he and Gunner checked under Brawler's bed to see several packs of canned cheap beer. "Ugh, I can't believe that guy sometimes. I swear, he's been an asshole since the day I met him."
"I don't think it's that." Whispered the female Mii as she grabbed the alcohol. "I think Brawler is getting worst, emotionally speaking."
"What makes you say that?"
"I had a hunch that he had a dark side, even before when we came to the mansion I could just tell he had problems from within." Explained the girl. "But since last week, he has been expressing his stress onto others. Have you realized he's becoming more agitated and frustrated lately?"
"All the time." Huffed Sword. "He's been very pissed after the whole debacle with the training ban, and now's he's getting into alcohol. With the drug combined with his colorful personality, I just know that he'll get worst in the future."
"I know, it's sad to see. He's a pessimistic person by nature, and that's what's holding him down. Do you think we can help him to… get better or-"
"I don't think that's possible." The blonde shut down the idea. "I know him, he's not the type of guy who talks things out, especially when it comes to his personal feelings."
"Well then how do we make him less…uh intense?"
"What's the holdup guys? I'm halfway through the tutorial and you're still not here." Brawler spoke from across the room.
"We'll be there in a sec, just keep your pants on!" Sword hollered to the fist-fighter before speaking to Gunner again. "We'll discuss this later. Let's get the brute his buzz and deal with this another day."
Gunner nodded as they both walked to Brawler's position.
'Let's hope for everyone at the mansion that he's is one of those happy drunks.' Thought Sword as he carried the six-pack in his warm hands, placing the drinks next to the angriest man on the planet.