Renato Sinclair didn't usually spend his downtime in Mafia Land. He was there so often for work that the island had little appeal for recreation. Not that he couldn't find a way to amuse himself, given how easy it is to spread Chaos. Today, Chaos is a side effect of his presence and not his main goal. Mafia Land only had large, multi-organizational events every couple of years. Tensions were always high and things had a tendency to explode when criminal organizations clashed. A multi-organizational martial arts tournament isn't just entertainment; it's a chance to scope out the competition. To win the (rather substantial) monetary prize is one thing, but bragging rights and customer contracts are a prize on their own. Organizations will show off a lot more to win that.
Renato also knows better than anyone that events like these are a great opportunity to assassinate someone. He is the best, after all. Crowds of strangers in an unfamiliar location with all their attention on something else make a lovely opportunity. Due to the many enemies Renato has made, he takes precautions. Disguises have always been fun and it is easy enough to make sure no one notices him slip in. He doesn't show up for the opening matches out of disinterest and to limit his time in the crowd.
Noting two groups of Mafioso with conflicting tattoos, he trips one of them into the other group. As the fight starts behind him, he settles into a seat. The tournament is still in the pure martial arts phase. The current competitors are very good but not especially notable. What catches his attention is the bench of competitors waiting for their turn. More specifically, there is one young man waiting to compete. Judging by the tattoos on the Triad guard-type standing behind the boy, they're Wo Hop To.
Unlike every other competitor, this young man isn't watching the match; he's watching the crowd. Actually, he's watching the fight Renato started. It seems to amuse him. Then he actually finds Renato in the crowd and smiles at him. Smiles at him as if the boy knows he started the fight, as if he knows Renato is not who he seems to be. As if he is entertained by the Chaos, just as Renato is.
Suddenly, this whole event just got a whole lot more interesting.
Then the boy's match starts and Renato is proven right (as always). He's up against some Italian Mafioso twice his size, who has the build and scars of a lifelong bruiser. It's oddly like David and Goliath: the Italian looks like he could physically overpower his counterpart with ease. But this isn't a match of strength. The young Wo Hop To representative moves with the grace of someone who learned martial arts before they learned to speak.
The Italian keeps coming after the boy, only for the boy to dodge. Over and over the man tries and fails. Renato is close enough to see their faces. The Italian is getting angry, and the boy is smiling and talking. Renato can lip-read well enough to make out some of the words. It helps that the boy is speaking Italian. Something along the lines of "please stop embarrassing yourself" and "it's not too late to quit." He seems completely sincere, which only makes it worse for the Italian.
Renato takes great joy in driving people into a rage, but there is something to be said for watching someone else work. The bruiser is shouting incoherently and swinging wildly. It's about as effective as trying to catch the wind. If Renato was not the Best, he would not have been able to spot how it ended. To the audience, it looked like the Italian tripped into the stadium wall and knocked himself out. But Renato saw the perfectly executed kick to the Italian's ankle. It was the first and only offensive strike the boy performed throughout the entire match.
No one knows where they are or even if they are actually present. It is the best method to obtain information. And Viper is the Best in the information business. In any other industry, a martial arts tournament wouldn't be particularly important. But the criminal underworld guards their secrets jealously and an assessment of those abilities is worth a lot. Viper knows all the 'publically' available information relating to the competitors. Viper also knows the particulars of the organizational structure. But what people want – what people will pay for – is the fighting capabilities of the organizations.
They could observe the training regimens of each organization or steal the information from the minds of the organizations' respective heads. Mist Flames are versatile and Viper is the Best. The tournament provides a brilliant opportunity to do both. Viper can get the necessary information on the organizations' capabilities from the participants and those in the audience. It saves a lot of trouble travelling around. Also, Viper is getting paid for attending.
Criminal organizations naturally distrust one another. None of them were willing to participate without assurances that the others couldn't cheat. At first it was suggested that each organization bring a Mist Flame user to check for cheating, but no one would trust the other organizations' Mists. Mafia Land administration suggested using an unbiased third-party. Since Viper is both unaffiliated and the most powerful Mist anyone has ever encountered, they got the job.
They get paid to ensure that no Flames are used during the pure martial arts portion and that the Flames are contained within the ring during the combined portion.
It was simple enough so far. A mild manipulation of reality made it impossible for anyone within the ring to utilize their Flames (except Viper). A few of the participants had reacted to the Mist Flames, but they had all been easily contained. The few Mists that had tried to interfere had been easily dealt with. One participant was interesting. The first time the boy [Name: Fon, age: 17, Status: Flame-active, type: Storm, affiliation: Wo Hop To Triad] had entered the ring, he reacted instinctively to the Mist Flames. Storm Flames attempted to lash out at what was perceived to be an attack. Viper had been ready to contain it when suddenly the Storm Flames were restrained and tucked away. Then they felt the Flame equivalent of a skittish cat brushing against them in apology, only to immediately slip out of reach.
That level of Flame Control is rare. The boy is much more skilled than they had been led to believe. Which was proven as Fon effortlessly won bout after bout. It led him to the finals of the pure martial arts division.
The other semi-finalist was Yasha; a wrestler from Russia who liked to anger his opponents, then overpower them when they got too close in their rage. It was an interesting matchup. Yasha had managed to elicit responses from every opponent so far. So far, Fon hadn't shown anything other than amused tolerance. Stylistically, they were opposites. Yasha grabs onto his opponents and restrains them, breaking limbs if he has to. Fon stays out of reach until the optimal time to strike, never coming into contact with his opponent more than necessary to do damage.
At first, they test the water. Yasha tries to grab Fon; Fon slips out reach. Fon goes in to strike; Yasha attempts to grab the offending limb. Viper can appreciate the dance, though they find it rather dull. It becomes more interesting when Yasha starts talking. The insults are typical at first: Fon's androgynous appearance, sexuality, and the uses of his flexibility. Nothing phases Fon. Viper is reluctantly impressed; they have left people brain-dead for less. Yasha must realize that tactic isn't going to work, because he switches gears.
He starts commenting on Fon's fellow Triad members, insulting his leader and coworkers. Fon doesn't even alter his speed, still testing Yasha's ability to react to different strikes. Then Yasha comments on the young girl with the Wo Hop To members in the stands. Viper knows this is Fon's sister, Mei [age 14 and reputed to be an accomplished Triad assassin in her own right], but even without their advantages it is obvious the two are related. The Russian actually gets a reaction. Fon stops smiling, his face so blank it could have been carved from stone. Viper can't resist reaching out to touch his mind, and they are surprised by the rage and hate barely leashed there. The boy's grasp on his Flames is tight, which is good; Viper is certain it would be embarrassingly difficult to contain his Storm Flames at this moment.
Viper can see the boy stop consciously thinking about his next move. It is the point Yasha pushed all his opponents to: till they operated off instinct instead of strategy. This time, it wasn't working in Yasha's favor. Fon almost became the Storm under his skin, attacking with such fury and unpredictability that he was a whirling blur of red. Yasha managed to grab Fon's wrists and lift him, but found his opponent simply didn't care. Fon let Yasha hold on and used the grip as to lift himself up. Fon wrapped his legs around the Russian's throat and broke his opponent's neck. Viper didn't know humans could bend that way without Flames to assist them, but Fon did so.
The audience was enraptured, Viper heard them talking about Fon. They called him things like the World's Greatest Martial Artist and the Wind Itself.
And Viper made a lot of money off bets on that fight.
Luce Giglio Nero was always going to attend the tournament. It is a societal obligation the Head of a Famiglia can't avoid. Above the obligations, Luce knows this is an opportunity for her. The visions of the Giglio Nero have set her on a path generations in the making. All she has to do is play her part. While Luce is aware of what it will eventually cost her, she is looking forward to meeting the rest of the Arcobaleno in person. She won't see all of them.
Skull won't know about any of it until Checkerface brings them together. Lal and Colonello aren't entrenched in the mafia yet. Verde has no interest in martial arts or the social aspects of a tournament. Reborn is a master of disguise and Viper will be wrapped in their Mist Flames; so the only one of her future fellow-sacrifices that she'll get to see is Fon.
Fon's not just participating, he's going to win. He's already won the pure martial arts half. This tournament will solidify his reputation as not just the World's Best Martial Artist, but also the World's Strongest Storm. And knowing how yesterday's competition would end, had not made the young Storm's performance any less beautiful. Just like knowing Fon will win doesn't make watching him use his Flames any less breathtaking.
It's the Final of the Flame Inclusive portion, but Luce is more tired than she had anticipated. It's hard to restrain her Sky from reaching out to the Flames that she knows, but hasn't actually met. To wrap her Flames around theirs like her spirit crave would be an unforgivable breach of Sky etiquette. A strong Sky reaching out to the Flames of strangers not affiliated with her famiglia would be seen as poaching, at best. So she reigns in her Flames and doesn't reach for the intangible Mist circling the stadium, or the blazing Sun hidden in the stands, or the restrained Storm preparing for his next bout. The Sky comforts herself with the knowledge that she'll meet them soon.
But as for the more immediate future, Fon is facing his final opponent. It's another Storm, this one an American woman. The majority of participants in the Flame Integrated Martial Arts Competition had been Suns and Lightnings, with the next largest amount being Storms. Those three Flame types are more commonly hand-to-hand combatants than the other types. A Lightning's Hardening often makes for a good tank, taking hits but no damage. A Sun's Activation can keep them going longer, and quickly makes any damage irrelevant. A Storm's Disintegration is a destructive power that lends itself well to many aspects of combat, and can even Disintegrate others' Flames depending on whose Will is greater.
The American Storm is also a martial artist, but seems less talented than Fon (though Luce will admit to herself that she isn't an expert and is more than a little biased).What she lacks in martial arts technique, she has well-compensated with Flames. The American has so-far demonstrated the typical personality traits of a Classic Storm: high-strung and obsessive with a tendency to attack first.
To the audience, Fon seems to be an Inverted Storm: calm and easy-going, with emotional outbursts being a rare occurrence. In the entire tournament Fon had only lost his temper once – against that Russian in the Pure Martial Arts Final. Though his face had been so blank, any who didn't know him would think he'd simply decided to get serious about the fight. Luce is well-aware Fon is much more of a Classic Storm than he seems, but her visions have given her an advantage in that area.
Luce knows Fon is a Classic Storm who has forced himself into the role of an Inverted Storm. Someday Fon won't be able to contain himself and his Triad will learn what exactly they have been trying to control. Not today though. Today, the audience is looking forward to the fight between the American Classical who attacks with Flames first and the Chinese Inverted who hardly needed them.
And what a fight it is. It seems to be as much a match of endurance as a match of skill. The American (the announcer said her name was Janine) was aggressive and precise. It had been a long day and she had used a lot of Flames in her previous bouts. Fon stayed back and moved only as much as needed to dodge. Fon had been much more conservative with his Flame use, but he had fought all yesterday as well.
Luce knows Fon, though – has seen him in her visions of their future. To her, Fon looks more bored than tired. Yesterday had been fun, until whatever the Russian said to him. Today he had become progressively less amused as the tournament wore on. At the same time, Janine was getting progressively more frustrated.
Viper had offered to use Mist Flames to project sound and visuals of the action into the VIP box. For an exorbitant fee of course. Luce had been happy to pay and it's not like the Giglio Nero can't afford it.
So she can see and hear perfectly when Janine loses it. She stops throwing controlled Flames long enough to throw punches and words. It's a profanity filled rant on people who won't take her seriously because she's a girl. Luce is familiar with the feeling, but has never had the liberty of indulging in such a public display of outrage. Fon's apology is both sincere and unsurprising. He apologizes for giving her such an impression, and states that he usually refrains from using his Flames because of the possibility of collateral damage.
Fon says he has one technique that has never seen combat; and that it would be an honor to use it here.
Luce watches Fon releases a burst of Storm that she can feel all the way up in the top box of the stands, condensed into a shape she has only seen in visions. The Storm Flame dragon of Fon's Exploding Lotus Kempo is beautiful.
Janine surrenders on the spot.
