Notes to Readers: At long last! I'm a senior in high school this year and I only have 5 classes, so things are a lot easier. It's not such a cram to work on my stories anymore. My well thought out Yu-Yu Hakusho story is on semi- permanent hold and I've started a Legacy of Kain fic. If you play video games and are into the RPG's, and if you like vampires, gothic stuff, etc, I suggest you play the LoK series. My story is called "Bringer of the Past: Helios Audron." (And yes this is shameless advertisementī). As of today 09-28-05, it has 3 chapters, unless something went wrong. I know for sure that 2 have been posted. Please read & review it. I think it is a well thought out story, just like this one. Ok now on to my new chapter(s) (hopefully) and FINALLY!
Chapter 8: The 1st Day of the Tournament- Part I
The day had finally come. Everyone had already stepped through to the parallel dimension and was gearing up for the first round of fights. As Iris, Marie, and Jubilee walked around the 'grounds', they noticed Neo standing around, or better, being bombarded by 12 or 13 girls, Brittany in the lead. He wore black combat boots, black loose fitting leather pants, a form fitting blood red shirt and a short sleeveless black motorcycle jacket. The jacket had various chains and sliver hoops connected to it and around his around his neck was a slim spiked collar. In his ear was the ever present hoop and on his right arm, he wore a red arm protectant. His hair was the same; swept up to the sky. As Iris watched in fascination and amusement, she caught glimpse of the cross around his neck.
"Do you think he gets tired of the attention?" Jubilee asked.
"Jubilee, men like him never tire of females casing them around like mindless slaves. I believe it is a universal male thing." Iris stated matter-o-factly. Her language had become slightly less sophisticated since her stay and for this she was happy. It helped her fit in more. They laughed at Neo and continued their walk. There was a large battle platform with four large pillars in each corner, in the middle of everything else around them. Seats were at least 10 feet away from the platform in all directions. The entrance was merely 3 steps that allowed you to step up unto the platform. It was from this angle that seats were placed that were different from the rest. These were where the professor and the X-men were to sit. Front row seats to the battles, but they were walking through the fair grounds at this point. There were rides of all sorts, at least 30 different gaming booths, food stands galore etc. Iris noticed that almost 100 yards away was a large building that almost resembled the school. This was were everyone was to reside during the X-Battles, which the students called it affectionately. No school, hardly any rules, it was something to look forward too. Most of the younger students ran passed the trio, making their way to rides or games. The older students could be seen in various congregations around the grounds, preparing for their battles. The three girls walked over to a large oak tree around 30 feet away from the ring. It was here they saw Remy and some girls ogling over him.
"Beat it bimbos!" Jubilee quirked.
The five girls were about to object, till Remy pushed passed them and kissed Iris on the cheek. This gave them motivation to leave. He hugged Jubilee and Marie and then leaned against the tree.
"Wh're hav ze three of you been? Remy had begun ta tink that you not show."
"Nah suga. We were just showin' Iris round the grounds, since this be her first time here. Figured she would need to have knowledge of these large grounds."
"For what its worth, thank you both for showing me around." Iris smiled in appreciation to Jubilee and Marie.
"No problem. Hey me and Marie are going find the boys, we'll catch you two in the tournament." Jubilee ran off, grabbing Marie by the hand. Marie grabbed her hat before it flew off and shouted her goodbye.
"You know, Remy Lebeau, it is quite unpleasant having your mindless drones stare at me in unmasked contempt." Iris began walking towards professor Xavier, who was a ways off. Remy followed behind her, his hand around her waist.
"Remy not care une petite chere ami. Th'ose girlz not bother Remy in least. Have you seen ze new guy? Neo."
"Yes, when we first arrived. Being hounded by girls as usual." Iris stopped when she came upon Xavier seated in between the other chairs belonging to the X-Men. Seated next to the Professor, as a guest no doubt, was Dr. Harrington, the man responsible for bringing Iris to the Professor.
"Iris let me introduce you to Dr. John Harrington, the man responsible for bringing you to us in your state of unconsciousness. John, this is Iris, a name Ororo affectionately gave her."
"Iris was speechless. This man knew more about her than even herself, for the simple fact that he found her and maybe had an idea of were she came from. She walked to him slowly and extended her hand. He stood up and shook her hand.
"A pleasure to see you again Ms. Iris. I was hoping to see you on my next visit here. You plagued my mind. I was afraid that you were not fairing well, but I see otherwise and so my mind is at rest."
"I thank you for your concern Dr. Harrington and I also thank you for bringing me here. I have adjusted quite well to my new home." She smiled at Remy when she said this. As she went to walk away, she received a telepathic thought from Harrington.
Once things have settled and the commotion is at a stand still, we must talk. I know you wish to know more about your past and I think I have some helpful clues that might be of use to you.
Iris turned to the man and shook her head in agreement and then continued on her path, but was stopped by Logan and Ororo. As they talked, Harrington noticed that this was no girl child, but a woman of infinite beauty, grace, and curves. Her hair was pulled in a high ponytail on her head and still almost drug to the ground. She wore a small purple choker around her neck that showed off small amethyst gemstones. She wore a small purple upper body bodice made of a flexible form fitting cloth that stopped right below her breasts. It sported one strap that was on the left side and went diagonally across the front of her chest and connected to the right side of the bodice. The front of it dipped low into a V-shape, stopping in the middle of her breast. From the choker a small strand of sliver hung directly in between her breasts. White armor adorned both her shoulders and covered the upper part of each arm. She wore white wrist protectants that were also adorned with amethyst. Hanging low on her hips was a long purple skirt that tied on each side on her hips. Splits ran all the way up to the ties, revealing all of her legs and thighs, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. She wore white ankle boots with spiked heels that had rather large amethyst gems on each outer side. When she walked, the muscles were seen in her legs and this did not go unnoticed by almost every male on the grounds.
Harrington nodded. No, this was definitely not a little girl.
"Long time no see Riz. Were ya been?" Logan walked up to Iris and gave her a tight hug.
"Here and there, looking around mostly. Hey Ororo." She hugged Ororo.
"Hey Iris. Good afternoon to you too, Remy."
"Bonjour Stormy." He hugged Ororo. "Allo Logan." Remy hit at Logan for good sport. Logan caught his hand easily and smirked.
"Fight like that in the tournament Swamp Rat and ya won't make it to the second round."
"Stop it Logan. Remy is a good fighter." Ororo punched his arm lightly.
"Hey Ro, I know. I was only sportin'." Logan rubbed his arm in mock pain. He grabbed Ororo around her waist and kissed her square in the mouth. A few of the onlookers let out gasps and mumbled comments. Ororo pushed him back, but only after they had kissed for a while.
"You two should get going. The tournaments beginning." Ororo pointed to the fact that people were beginning to take their seats and the fighters were already going to the small building a few feet away from the ring. This was were the fighters resided until they were announced to come into the ring.
"Yeah, we should get going. All the good seats in there might be taken already."
"Will Stormy and Logan c'eer for Remy and une petite chere ami? We will make grand scene, no?" Remy looked at Iris when this was said.
"Of course Remy." Iris looked Remy up and down. Always in leather pants, but today he had on a small wife beater and his usual yellow duster and black combat boots. Even still, everything was neat as a pin on her beloved Remy Lebeau.
"Yea, we will cheer for ya. Na get goin' for it starts without tha two of ya?" Iris grabbed Remy's hand and they made a mad sprint for the building. Logan and Ororo, hand in hand, went to take their respective seats. By this time almost everyone had sat down and the announcer, none other than Professor Xavier, who was wheeling himself to the middle of the ring. As he began to speak, all went silent.
"Hello and welcome to the 4th annual Mutant Tournament. I am sure our returning competitors and our newcomers will enjoy their 3 night stay, in this parallel world. Something new we have added this yr is instead of using artificial light we are now able to see the sun and the moon. I am sure everyone is anxious to challenge last years winner Brian Waltrz or known to everyone as Brick." A tall well toned guy stood up and waved. It had short cropped blond hair with platinum blond highlights that hung just above his eyebrows. His eyes were stone grey, but cheery looking. He smirked as he looked around at everyone and walked to stand by the professor. He wore a emerald green spandex suit with black strips going diagonally across it. He wore cloth boots that were black and green that helped him move faster.
"As you all know, Brian's specialty is being able to control anything that is solid and made of concrete, such as bricks, cement slabs, etc. this makes him very dangerous in the ring and last year, he rendered most of his opponents unconscious." There were some "oohhs" and "aahhs" in the crowd as Brian sat back down.
"Surely everyone is ready, so let the games begin!" Everyone gave a round of applause and yells and screams for who they wanted to win as Ororo walked to the center of the ring.
"Fight 1: Bobby vs. Shun- Ling"
"Bobby, wearing his trademark smirk, walked into the ring wearing a simple tracksuit, like a lot of people there, with a small winter scene on the back. Shun- Ling had on a simple Chinese style dress that fit very tight and covered everything but her arms, but it had two splits up to her thigh, which allowed for her a free range of motion. On her feet, she had a simple pair of flat black shoes. Her short cropped black hair was spiked up with colorful hairpins on each side. They walked to the middle of the ring, Bobby smirked and Shun- Ling bowed slightly. She looked around and smiled. Everywhere and all around were different items they could all use to their advantages. Charles received the list of participants and implanted water, stone, glass, fire, etc. Anything that the participants needed.
As the crowd roared for them to start, Bobby powered up just enough to be able to use 50 of his powers. He got on the offensive and ran towards Ling. She dodged his attack easily and went to hit him in the back, but not before he ducked and hit her with a solid ice punch. She slid across the floor a few inches and quickly picked herself up. By this time, Bobby was in front of her and hit her in the stomach with his knee. She ignored this pain and grabbed his face and slammed it firmly into her knee. They both staggered back a bit to regain themselves. Shouts of "that's the way to get him" and "don't let her win" could be heard. A more derogatory "she's only a damned girl, finish her" could be heard. This made the girls made, so some of them turned their cheers from Bobby to Ling.
"This little game is over." Bobby powered up and sent a large attack at Ling. At the same moment, Ling crotched down and began chanting something. By the time Bobby's spell reached her, small specs of light surrounded her. She sent them to meet Bobby's ice ball and they disbursed his attack and it was absorbed and brought into her. No one had ever really seen her powers before.
Iris smiled. When she had become friends with Shun-Ling, she had opted to show Iris her powers. The ability to absorb attacks using micro energy balls (specs of light) from nature as the main absorbent power line. Then absorbing the 'specs of light' into her body, it has the ability to create a weakness for the power absorbed, in Bobby's case, fire.
Bobby powered up to full capacity, turning into Iceman. People shouted their cheers and boo for their respective person.
Shun-Ling ran towards Bobby at full speed. Bobby, shocked by this, turned back to Iceman and also ran towards Ling. As they met, Ling punched Bobby in the jaw and shoulder, eliminating his strongest arm. He retorted by taking her legs from under her and outing his foot in her chest. He pressed firmly down, until he felt something burn his ankle. He jumped back and saw flames in her eyes. She grabbed Bobby and he screamed as his ice flesh began to burn. Flames were released from her fingertips and when she breathed, flames emerged. She continued her relentless assault until Bobby's body reverted back to his normal state and he fell with numerous burns across his body. Ling walked to him with a worried expression.
"I didn't mean to burn you so badly. Are you alright?" She asked sincerely. She was genuinely worried. Bobby tried to move, but the burns prevented any movement. He looked at her angry eyes. She looked down at him with apologetic eyes as the medics came and picked him up. No one was mad at her though, these were the happenings of the tournament. Ororo walked to the center of the ring.
"Winner of round one: Shun- Ling." She smiled slightly and walked back to the small building that housed the fighters. As she entered, everyone just starred at her. She felt more alone than every, until Iris and Remy came and stood by her.
"Excellent job Ling." Iris smiled.
"I didn't mean to hurt him so badly. Honest." She was very upset.
" Ze rules of ze game Ling." Remy comforted her.
"I suppose." She smiled at them for their kindness and went to the back of the building to be alone.
"Her soft heart will be her downfall. Stupid bitch." Iris and Remy turned to see Brittany walk up.
"Brit'any, do you not have a plaze to be going'?" Remy asserted his presence.
"Is it with you Remy?" She asked in her most innocent voice. Iris seethed.
"Remy would not be caught with you. He does have a reputation to maintain."
"Then why is he with you?" Brittany said sadistically.
"Simple, because I am better than you could ever wish to be." At that note, Remy grabbed Iris' arm and they walked off. Brittany simply shrugged and left.
"I cannot stomach that girl." Iris spat.
"Let her be Iriz. She nobody." They both turned as the second fight was being announced. Ororo walked to the ring to announce the battle.
"Fight 2: Brittany vs. Jubilee"
That was the end of the LONG chapter 8. It's been so long. Was it good? I hadn't written in a while, so was a good continuation? I have my ideas for the next 7 chapters, so they should come relatively quick. If I get some more reviews, I will continue this story. If I stop now, it's only because I have writers block or school work. My school work comes first and if I have writers block, I care about my fans too much, so I won't write crap, I'll just wait until I'm over my spell. Love ya!
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