Anyone not able to see his shame let his tears go unnoticed. It let him plan out his final moments in peace.
"Disgraceful," he sobbed, lingering on his knees, short of breath.
He blamed the lumps in his throat, the heaviness on his sinewy chest, among other things.
"That was disgraceful Ira Gamagori!" he said.
He pulled a small knife from a cleaner sheath. Ready to ram it into his gut the white strip snagging it denied him. He looked from one anomaly to another; an icy stare, Junketsu donned, she had other ideas.
"It's too early to kneel in defeat," she turned her back to him.
His gasping didn't stop her walk through a mist unable to clear. It didn't help either. Falling to his sore back he stayed behind to lick his wounds.
x.x.x
"That's one down, Kiryuin!" Ryuko boasted, blade over her shoulders, her knee pointing.
At her back she had a reliable ally in Son. Dressing her supple flesh Senketsu kept some of her warm. It was hard to not feel like she had an advantage.
"Then step aside, Matoi. It's our turn."
Ryuko glanced for Inumuta's leaving stairs she was sick of.
"If Son Goku is ready, of course," he said decidedly sure of himself.
"I am," Son took his place.
"Feel free to rest, Matoi," Satsuki said with uncharacteristic concern.
"I'll rest when I'm dead," Ryuko didn't care for it. "Son will beat this dude in a flash. That'll leave two more chumps to waste, then it's me and you."
Satsuki eyed the tip of Ryuko's blade, how it glimmered when it leaned in her direction.
"So it would seem," she said unbothered. "Inumuta! Son Goku! Take your places for the second round!"
Doing as they were told Son could feel the gapes from so many. A few were friends. Most were enemies he never considered as such. None of it mattered. There was a challenger to his front.
x.x.x
"I hope Son will be okay," Mako drew her sigh out.
Though she looked higher the sky offered no consolation. She mostly had a row to herself, until a shirtless giant plopped on the only open seat next to her.
"G-Gamagori!" she gasped. "Why are you half naked?!"
"Relax, Mankanshoku. I am now like you. A No Star." Gamagori turned scowling her way. "It's only fitting that I observe the battle from the bleachers."
He squeezed the white rag that saved his life, trembling. "Lady Satsuki. I, Ira Gamagori, will work to reclaim my rightful place as your impenetrable shield! Your showing me mercy only strengthens my dedication to you!"
"... So that's it, is it?" Mako hopped to her feet.
She tossed short armed jabs at the air between them.
"You wanna fight me to prove your worth again?!" she frowned.
" ... "
"I'm cheering for Ryuko and Son with everything I've got! No one's interfering with that, Elite Four or otherwise!" she said, convinced.
Gamagori wasn't, sliding his big arms over a bigger chest. "Hmph! Lady Satsuki has established what cannot be moved!"
"But it WAS moved. You lost to Ryuko, remember!" she reminded him.
"... WIN INUMUTA! PUT THAT IMBECILE SON GOKU IN HIS PLACE!"
"BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIM, SON! MAKE RYUKO AND ME PROUD!"
x.x.x
Inumuta thumbed the screen in his hand smirking for what Son didn't see. Above them, left as one was right, Sanageyama and Nonon remained slightly lower to Satsuki's wanting to continue.
"Why look to Lady Satsuki so curiously, Nonon?" Sanageyama provoked. "Afraid you might not be her favorite anymore?"
"That's very observant Mister Wild Monkey. But I've known her the longest. If she's focused it's because she has something in mind. Son Goku means nothing to her! Though I hope he beats Inumuta. Seeing him thrash you, for the third time, would be the day's highlight."
"... I'll bet," Sanageyema leered.
"That's an interesting gi, Son Goku," Inumuta didn't look from the data.
If he had the white of Son's top, the blue beneath it, would be front and center. He wouldn't have to as it all gleamed on the digital image he obsessed over.
"How long have you had it?" he finally asked.
"Ryuko's dad made it for me a long time ago," Son replied mindful of the skinny tech wiz not far from where he waited.
He knew what worked, what didn't. He knew underestimating any opponent could prove hazardous.
"Couldn't wear it until I was old enough," he finished.
"I see," Inumuta adjusted his specs.
Nonchalance sat between his high cheekbones, no facial hair on his chin beneath it. Skyward, Satsuki had to look down on the exchange. She didn't miss Son's shooting her a nod.
"Round two...begin!"
"Right."
Inumuta's collar zipped over his sneer. Activated lines trapped his body, hot to the touch, his gear forming did more than just wow the crowd. Spit out by three blinding stars, neon green edges, turquoise, his visor exposed his mouth and hair. Holographic keyboards at the ready along his thighs, forearms, biceps sides, all of it offset by humming cords.
"Three Star Goku Uniform: Probe Regalia," his less masculine voice raised.
"Probe Regalia, huh?" Son said.
He shared another nod with Ryuko, whom stood back with a focus he wasn't used to. Inumuta's fingers jittery twitches he pecked the keys on his arms.
{Son should be careful. That uniform is rubbing me the wrong way.}
"He'll be alright," Ryuko answered quietly. "This dweeb doesn't stand a chance."
Son ran from his feet to turn the leg he stretched. The attempt ducked, the artificial red in Inumata's sight wasn't anyone else's. One fist curved for his jaw, another shot for his ribs, the last hit him square in the chest. Son touched down from his attack run. Inumuta thanked his armor's absorbing the blow. His display compensated, pressured into conjuring diagnostics. Each of his opponent's movements went in and out of view a blur he couldn't track unless he stood still.
"You'll have to move quicker than that," Son slipped through a grin but his guard went nowhere.
He ignored the crowd's feeding into it. The fight wasn't over. Inumuta typed with more fervor able to reach for the keypad lining his back.
"I don't know what that uniform can do, but if I were you, I'd pull out all the stops," Son said.
"You make a valid point," Inumuta replied.
If Son tried, his opponent's evading kept.
"Speed with coordination. You've learned to maximize while saving what you can of your energy. Less equals more eh?"
"Something like that!" Son wouldn't let up.
"But I wonder. How long can a human body keep that up?"
"As long as it takes!"
Son's overhead rained like a dropped anvil to drill through the stage, shifting its foundation. Pulling his hand from harder than rock where his opponent went was anyone's guess. The crowd couldn't see him, Ryuko couldn't, and as he was among the problem, he couldn't, in spite of quick searching.
x.x.x
"He vanished?!" Mako assumed.
"It's Inumuta's uniform. When it shines only the ignorant would assume so. He didn't vanish," Gamagori corrected her. "IT IS OPTICAL CAMOUFLAGE!"
"That's a load of crap!" she said. "He's not a chameleon on his best day!"
"... I should've guessed you would miss the point entirely, Mankanshoku," Gamogori sighed.
"Eyes open!" Ryuko shouted not caring what anyone thought.
Agreeing, Son listened for the breeze, any change in it. It took a slap against his spine to set him off.
"Ow!" he griped flicking the hand he straightened at nothing.
"Try to hit what cannot be seen, Son Goku. Whatever you are, whatever that gi is, it isn't enough."
Something heavy hit his cheek like a stone someone threw their hardest. Several went to work on his being wide open.
"Snap out of it Son!" Ryuko narrowed her gaze, balling her hand.
Beaten to the edge of the stage Son shook off flustered. He remembered the current. Finding his rhythm, instead of his body and face taking punishment, his wrists and knees found their marks. He moved them this way and that yet the sting only worsened.
"There's nowhere to run Son Goku!" his opponent cackled. "If I can only gather obvious data like this, I'll be extremely disappointed!"
"Forget your training for a sec, Son!" Ryuko said. "This guy won't fight by any rules! Get totally reckless!"
"Totally reckless?!" Son huffed shoving away what hurt. "Got it!"
Bending at the knees, hands closed and brought to his waist, he pulled at what he had to control. It shot from his feet first.
"HAAAH!" he cried to flare it wildly.
Flattened further, the stage cracked, pieces of it torn free to circle his standing taut.
"So that's what he meant by kiai shout," Ryuko said.
Relaxed, Son centered on a silhouette.
"Found you!" he said.
He let his flex blow at anything not nailed down. Inumuta's spectral appearance formed as him typing like a madman hitting any key on his armor that still worked. Everywhere at once but not Son covered any exit from the stage. Inumuta's helmet beeped so loud the ping nearly burst his eardrums.
"E-Evasion ...," he panicked. "... n-not an option?!"
"HOIIYYAAA!" Son popped between his sight line.
Right boot raised, it fell, slamming Inumuta's visor with a heft that could derail a moving train. Much of the stage snapped up loose particles to sprinkle a breeze picking up. It rattled so much Ryuko had to catch herself. Most among the campus rocked whether standing or sitting. Seeing anything on the arena had to wait. When they could Inumuta's head buried five inches into it with the unnerving twitch of his torso, arms, and his legs still attached. When he yanked his cracked visor from it, there he was.
"I hope that didn't hurt too much," Son smiled rubbing where his hair met his neck. "Sorry about this."
One palm open the hot force swirling to life left any to see it speechless.
"... I'm at the limits of my processing capacity?" Inumuta's voice cracked.
His uniform's sustained damage split to shoot sparks. He froze. Son wrestled with it, then stayed his hand. Inumuta's standing with his arms up and his outfit returned to however normal it could be surprised him.
"Houka Inumuta hereby forfeits this battle!" he said.
He hoped admitting it would slow his rapid heart beat. All eyes glued to it flashing on the arena billboards, it stuck.
"You're...giving up?" Son asked silencing what he almost let off.
"If I continue fighting you the data I've gathered so far will be damaged," Inumuta shared.
"Say what?" Ryuko chuckled on the walk up.
"I only want data," Inumuta said again. "Victory doesn't interest me."
His walking off got on her nerves, though Son had his time with frustration.
"Man. I was just starting to enjoy myself," he complained.
Inumuta granted his pass Nonon turned her nose up.
"The data lover's grandstanding is worse than yours, 'Gama," she said.
"Lady Satsuki is allowing it so what does it matter?" Sanageyama replied.
Both glanced to their superior.
"Jakuzure. Prepare for battle," Satsuki said because it didn't matter.
It took her calm. It took her barely leaning on her sword without fatigue to speak of. She was privy to Nonon's pause.
"What's wrong?" Sanageyama ribbed.
He stood from a temporary seat bored out of his mind.
"You getting cold feet?" he said.
"Shut your trap for once! My being next is all that matters!" Nonon fussed.
"I know. Maybe I'll catch the end of it. I've gotta break in my Three Star Goku Uniform: Blade Regalia Mark Two," Sanageyama moved indifference with his shuffle.
The stairs to take him wherever were waiting.
"What did you say?!" Nonon fumed ready to clock him with her baton. "You're assuming I'm gonna lose?! No one mocks me! NO one!"
x.x.x
Mikisugi on pins and needles Tsumugu had yet to arrive with the package. He needed an out.
"They've beaten another one," he said, scratching his scalp. "Maybe we were wrong after all."
When he walked off from his classroom, he tugged away his shades, thought the building's roof would be the better vantage point. He wouldn't waste anymore time guessing.
x.x.x
When Mako woke, not wiping the slobber from her mouth, she was sandwiched between a rock and a hard place. Dressed down as the burgundy tracksuit said as much Inumuta unfolded his laptop, gulping his pride.
"Eh?! You're here too, Inumuta?!" she couldn't believe.
"I'm unfortunately like you now." Inumuta thought his saying it aloud was worse. "This is the best spot to observe the fight."
"I'll try not to bring up the topic of your forfeit," Gamagori scoffed. "What's with the tracksuit?! Have you no shame?!"
"You should know. The loser is stripped of his Goku Uniform. I don't recall any rule about having to sit naked in thirty degree weather. You remember those, right? The rules? Would rather know them than shame, Mr. Disciplinary Committee Chair. Oh, I'm sorry! Former Disciplinary Chair!"
"... I appreciate the opinion, Former Information and Strategy Committee Chair!"
"There's too much tension over here!" Mako mumbled tugging on her earlobes.
She didn't give to the temperature nor the butting of larger heads. If she remembered anything it was that two friends wouldn't quit.
"Fine. Ryuko and Son didn't so I'm not gonna lose either! Let's go Mako! Stand strong, Mako Mankanshoku! Hooray! Hooray! You can do it!"
x.x.x
"Heh. Looks like Mako's cheering for herself now," Son laughed.
Below the spectacle he had no qualms with her waving flags to be a nuisance.
"That's classic Mako," Ryuko chimed in.
{Ryuko. Your pulse and respiration have returned to normal.}
"Have they?" she said.
Her and Son focused on Mako's antics until the whistle blew. Baton held high new competition made her presence known.
"Entrance march! Under the Double Eagle!" Nonon stepped.
Joining her the band she directed at her back blew into trumpets, trombones, clarinets and the like, each cymbal clash on key with fluttering drum rolls. Instrument players took their time leaving wider stairs as to not rush the performance.
"That's pretty good!" Son clapped for the effort.
"I'm glad someone appreciates it!" Nonon winked steering her followers with one, two, one, two wags.
Ryuko glared her disapproval.
"This won't be like any clumsy fights you've had so far, transfer student." Nonon found her spot. "Prepare to be pummeled cheerfully, jauntily, and utterly one sidedly!"
When she twirled her baton it followed her spinning. Life breathed into her uniform putting on a show, abandoning light flashes, pink swallowed her skin, tight as all get out. She lost the miniskirt but not the bandleader hat accepting skeletal arms ending in protrusions emerging from her shoulders and hips. Band members let the sky snag their instruments, brass and percussion membranes flowing like a shower in reverse. It rode a tune's wave to fill her tank before it sealed. Titanic, curved at two ends, massive woofers able to project what she willed went from nothing to solid. Nonon was its cavity. Nonon was its heart. Any watching thought she looked a curious mix as the skull on her left shoulder wore attitude, shades, with a mohawk of colored feathers.
"Three Star Goku Uniform: Symphony Regalia Grave!" she said hyping the celebration of her.
"Wuh! That thing is huge!" Son chirped.
"On what planet is that a uniform?!" Ryuko had to agree.
"I get the best sound this way, transfer student," Nonon preened.
"Son! As you've won the second round, you may join me to follow the third," Satsuki cut in.
Son's glance set on Ryuko's, staying there. He took his time leaving her. In his soar he struggled with what he didn't think. The unsettled at the pit of his stomach. Dropping that uncertainty behind Satsuki he moved to her side with questions.
"What's on your mind?" he blurted out.
"I will tell you in a moment," she didn't look to say. "Round three. Begin!"
x.x.x
"Okay, for my first song, Light Cavalry Overture!" Nonon barked cheerfully.
Aiming her baton let her direct her tank. Sudden trumpets were near deafening.
"Playing music while we fight?" Ryuko's eyebrow rose.
{I can barely hear myself think.}
"Then I guess I better shut her up!" She pulled her glove's hook free. "Life Fiber Synchronize, Kamui Senketsu!"
Pushed into a leap she had already changed before thrusting her blade, her midair try rammed head on into a woofer blast. Swatted from the sky like a heavily armed gnat she plunged into the stage. Too much sound made her teeth click. It was harder to get back to her feet.
{Her attacks pack a punch!}
"The bass really reverberates, doesn't it?" Nonon advanced. "How about we add a really sharp performance for good measure!"
Piercing quick ricocheted from Ryuko's limbs tightening. Solid notes ached to penetrate. Her shifting right let her leave the assault.
"Dance harder, transfer student!" Nonon mocked.
Weapons chasing Ryuko's sprint she made a beeline for her target. Jumping at her again was a mistake. One wave of a baton beautiful racket knocked the wind from her lungs. Coughing up the metallic taste of warm copper was her reward. Their audience fared no better as covering their ears hardly lessened the agony.
x.x.x
"... Can't say you're completely right," Son differed. "I mean, yeah, Senketsu's giving off some strange vibes. I didn't think it was a problem."
"I am not saying it is. Not yet. Your intuition is all I have to go on." Satsuki turned the slightest peek. "How does that power work?"
"What power?" he said.
"Your ability to sense what cannot be seen," she said.
He thought it odd she would ask while his only family fought for her life.
"Everyone gives off something. Their potential, I guess. It's just like how I smell and hear better than most people. Old Turtle Hermit taught me how to hone it. Not telling anyone was a promise. Ryuko and her dad said I have to be careful with what I'm able to do. It could become an issue, y'know?"
She didn't mind him a few steps from her rear. It spoke to her role as a leader, only accepting the best talent. Most appealing was that she couldn't control him. An individual she couldn't manipulate provided something she had never before encountered: a challenge. It won him brownie points.
"Your honesty is appreciated," she faced the music.
Not smiling was her task as his being so close nearly drove her to.
"Remain vigilant," she said.
"... Okay," he said.
x.x.x
It was outside of the academy grounds. Anyone in Honno City with a television set could see it. A department store had a few stacked by its front window. A wiped down barrier to entice as selling them was the owner's goal she carried her opened parasol, skipped in no rush, her pigtails swinging back and forth, then she stopped. Her undivided rested on any image showing her next victims. She had her pick of the litter.
"Ooooo! She's so adorable when she's fired up!" she gushed. "Gosh, everyone seems to be having so much fun!"
She had quite a walk ahead of her, no soul as animated in the slums, no soul as dangerous. She carried merriment with rich perfume on the way toward her objective. Blood to spill the only thing on her mind she only hoped it could sate her lust for it.
x.x.x
{It seems you're pushing yourself harder. Is Son's standing with her troubling you?}
"N-No. Why would I care about that?!" Ryuko fought to gripe.
Her chest burned as her lungs scrambled to take in oxygen. She savored the break knowing it would be brief, needing a new strategy, and fast.
"Tell me we've got a plan c," she said.
{If anything you should relax first.}
"This music is lacking a certain something. Oh, I know!" Nonon rambled, wide eyed, partly turned on. "It's missing your blood curdling screams, transfer student!"
The command for her tank went unspoken. Retracting its treads at the bottom three fins folded out from the back and sides. Suspended on its front like the figurehead she was it rose from its place a giant, glittering boombox. Woofers around her cockpit blew at dust tossing the folds of Ryuko's miniskirt. She pressured her thighs and ankles to stay taut.
"Symphony Regalia Presto!" Nonon yelled.
"Really?! It flies now?!" Ryuko's mouth parted.
Dirt flew into her eye causing its itch. She kept her sword hand down, a free one up, little as that helped.
"It can do more than fly!" Nonon answered. "The other Elite Four could never pull off anything like this!"
She demonstrated by directing it higher. So high that she slowed it next to Satsuki and Son's perch. Her attention on Satsuki's, impressing her mattered most.
"Isn't that right, Lady Satsuki?" she said steering her brag with her airship. "Now listen to this! The William Tell Overture finale!"
It firing shards of onyx steel Ryuko whirled her blade to deflect what she could. She endured the stabbing of her knuckles and fingers through her gauntlets.
"I thought leaving the battle area means you're disqualified?!" she winced.
"Not if you leave it, only if you fall out of it!"
"Figures. New rules every five seconds! You're worse than the other three!" she spat keeping her opponent in her line of sight.
"Complain much?! Since you've got time to, I've got something bigger for you!" Nonon flicked her baton. "Let's see you dodge jauntily!"
The missile hanging from the compartment it left nearly matched the arena in scope.
"Look out Ryuko!" Son hollered.
The thruster at its back burned to launch for the smaller human it targeted. Ryuko ran from being blown to smithereens but wouldn't get far. She was unharmed, ticked off when the dust settled. Pulling a thick strand of her skirt didn't pain Senketsu. Tying it to her blade hilt she gave it a good spin.
"Try this on for size!" she said as she lobbed it.
Its length wrapped Nonon's vessel in unchecked swings stopping when its tip bore into alloy it could cut. Serrated objects shot from each pointed end of her skirt drilling into the arena. She was braced.
"Let's bring you down to my level!" she grinned.
An ant tugging a boulder those watching were on the edge of their seats. Son held no such shock. He knew her. He knew her brand of stubborn. Nonon's contorted face nearly bashed the stage. Her woofers bounced her to safety. Fired cymbals weren't able to slice through Ryuko's cord she would rather die before letting it go.
"Each part of Senketsu's body is a bundle of Life Fibers! You're not cutting him that easily!" she claimed.
"So we should switch it up then, shouldn't we?!"
Nonon activated new slots for new dangers. Thin streams of noted sheets could leave more than paper cuts as each was hundreds of degrees hotter than room temperature. All of it focused on making Ryuko fold. Buried amidst loud explosions, Son suffered for her. Sitting on his hands started to wear out its welcome.
"It's no use! The stage is ready to give!" Ryuko said trying to see what she could of it.
Nonon piled on the hurt denting it further. Dents became cracks. Cracks deepened to become detached rubble. The ground ripped from her feet Ryuko had no choice but to fall.
"Ryuko!" Son nearly hopped from his.
"Oh dear, she's fallen," Nonon snickered.
Dropping with the arena chunk she balanced on the fight wasn't kicked out of her yet.
"... Senketsu. Can you do something that's really, really crazy?" she asked.
Senketsu glanced to her cheek through the waving locks over her focus.
{I'll do my best!}
Nonon's airship was still in view, as was the missile barrage she let loose. It scorched everything in the campus, including bleacher sections, what if anything was left of the stage, and portions of the surrounding walls. A carpet bombing held less heated vibrance though it spread as one and popped as noisily.
"Ryuko!" Son shouted at his wit's end. "That's it!
He propelled himself from Satsuki doing nothing to stop him. She had to see what lengths he would go to. His flying descent wouldn't pierce the smoke cloud but an object almost knocked him back; her skirt rigid and stretched it served as jet propulsion. Senketsu's eyes were hard wings to navigate the current which was much colder. Nonon's sneer dropped a mile.
"It evolved into a flying configuration in so short a time!" Satsuki grimaced.
Anyone still alive wouldn't miss Ryuko's shooting across the sky like a high strung comet.
"Way to go, Senketsu!" she smiled for how it tingled.
{Do you have a name for this form?!}
"You bet! Senketsu Shippu!" she hollered, spinning into wilder barrel roles.
x.x.x
Mako, Gamagori and Inumata were among the living. A wreck merely a seat away, theirs was wonderment. Only Mako wasn't so good at pretense.
"Ryuko's flying! Son's flying! That's so cool! They're gonna win the day for sure!" she said using her fingers to stretch open her eyelids.
Standing in her seat instead of sitting Inumuta minded his laptop like he would kill her if she so much as tapped it.
"Miss Snake is in for it now," he dryly voiced.
"Jakuzure is as arrogant as you are. She has always lorded over everyone and now the tables have turned!" Gamagori grumbled.
Failure didn't sit well. He and Inumuta ignored Mako's jumping up and down. They anticipated a comrade's losing. They secretly hoped for it. It was that or dwell on being humbled by two delinquents. That wasn't an option for either.