A/N: Hm...sorry, but for some reason my computer is erasing a lot of punctuation. Happy reading!
"Team fighters, shake hands." Koto ordered. "Agreement to a bloody battle to the death."
Ukiya gave the smaller fighter a tight-lipped smile. "Toki Ukiya, agreement to a bloody battle to the death."
The smaller girl nodded. "Kageryu Jaganshi, agreement to a bloody battle to the death." The two shook hands tensely before waiting for Koto's signal.
"Toki Ukiya of Team TianLung-Feng versus Kageryu Jaganshi of Team Fugishima! Fight till there's no more blood to spill! Begin!"
"I hope you've had a fulfilling life," Kageryu said lightly. "Because it's going to end very soon. KAGE WAKERU!" -
Kay waved her hand in front of Ryu's face. "Hello? Ryu? Ryu Shoku, are you in there?" she turned to Yukina, who had come to watch the fight with them today. "Hey, Yukina, what's up with the wraith girl?"
Yukina looked over Kay's shoulder to find that Ryu's focus had definitly wandered elsewhere. Her eyes were smokey and her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides. "Ryu-chan, are you all right?" the ever-kind ice maiden asked. When she didn't get an answer, she turned back to Kay. "What do you think, Kay? You're her best friend. Do you think something's bothering her?"
Kay shrugged. "I wouldn't know," she said coldly. "I'm not her friend, apparently."
Yukina seemed taken aback, and was about to ask another question when Mar-lo plopped down beside her and handed her a box of popcorn. "Didn't know they sold popcorn in the Maikai," he laughed, popping a few kernels into his mouth. "Thought that was only a ningen thing!"
"Pop...corn?" Yukina repeated slowly, confused.
Kay gasped. "Oh yeah, that's right! Yukina's never been to a ningen home! I'll bet you Mar-lo's left shoe she's never had popcorn either!"
"Hey!" Mar-lo protested, his mouth full of popcorn.
Yukina looked even more confused. "What is...pop...corn?"
Alia crashed into Mar-lo's back as she missed the last step when she heard that Yukina had never heard of popcorn before. Popcorn flew out of the box and all over Kay and Ryu, while cherry flavored pepsi spilled onto Mar-lo's head. As he ran off screaming that he had soda in his eyes, Alia gladly took his spot beside Kay. "Who's winning?" she asked through a mouthful of popcorn.
"I'm almost positive Kageryu's winning," Kay said, squinting at the stadium. "But nobody can see anything through that miasma." she pointed Alia's eyes in the direction of the miasma all the energy Kageryu had summoned had created. "We're not entirely sure what happened to the announcer chick, either"
Ryu shook her head. "It's not Kageryu," she muttered. "Ukiya's winning. Ukiya always wins. Nobody escapes Ukiya. No one"
"You want to repeat that? I can't hear you!" Kay cupped her hand around her ear to try and hear Ryu over the complaints of the crowd. Ryu shook her head and returned to her vegetated state.
Alia stood, trying to see if she could see anything better from another point of view. But there was no point, since the energy seemed to surround the ring from all sides, including overhead. She scanned the crowd, looking for any empty spots where she might be able to take a closer look. She finally spotted an empty space, which conveniently happened to be beside Allie and Ender. With a groan she headed towards the front, trying to avoid conflict with any demons who might alert them to her prescence.
When she reached the front, though, Allie and Ender were watching the miasma with as much interest as they would give a fly buzzing around their heads. Allie rolled her eyes. "It's you," she said. "I thought it might have been Ai, but no, it's got to be the annoying baka kitsune." Ender elbowed her and held out his own box of popcorn to Alianore in apology.
"She doesn't mean that," he said, smiling.
"Yeah, right," Allie mocked. "I don't mean it." Ender kicked her beneath the stands. "Ow, Ender you bas-- I mean, sorry." she smiled at Alia. Alia returned her own fake smile.
"Can you guys see anything from here?" she asked, sitting beside Ender (she didn't want to have to deal with sitting next to Allie). "Nope," Allie responded, slurping a bright blue slushie.
"Nobody can. They're thinking of sending in a rescue team if things keep up much longer." Alia nodded. "Hey wait, couldn't you just penetrate that smokey-stuff, Ender, and see what the hell's going on in there"
Ender shook his head. "Both Ukiya and Kageryu's minds are closed to mine. I couldn't get inside their heads even if I wanted to"
Alianore stared at Ender. "You read minds?"
"Yeah," Allie answered for him, "and he kicks ass, too. The only thing he can't do is get wraiths or demons with jagans. And that's just sad, isn't it Ender? Oh yeah and that he completely wipes out every time he gets a brainfreeze. Don't you, Ender?" she teased, sloshing her slushie around in the cup under his nose. Ender wrinkled his nose in disgust and turned the slushie away from him. Allie flashed him a smile with her slushie-blue teeth.
Alia nodded, as if to say, "right. gotcha. you do that." While Alia and Allie bickered, the teams down by the stadium weren't having any more luck seeing into the smog than those in the stands.
"What the hell?" complained another Chinese fighter from Fugishima. "I thought we were done with the crap when LanLan was finished. Don't tell me Kageryu's dancing the tango in there"
"Shut up, Fyrea," LanLan shot back from her seat against the stands. "You don't even know what you're talking about"
"Don't I?" Fyrea smiled coyly. "Nikoji, tell her I know what I'm talking about"
Nikoji looked up from his sleeping position against the stadium. "How many times do I have to remind you two that I'm not going to get in the middle of these things?" he grumbled.
Fyrea pouted. "Oh come on, Nikoji, when do I ever ask you for favors?" she plopped herself down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder.
"When do you ever stop asking me for favors?" he mumbled, shifting away from his teammate. Fyrea's mouth hung open.
"Akira!" she wailed. "Akira! Did you hear what Nikoji just said to me? He's a meany! Akira are you listening to me? Did you hear what your fighter just said to me? Akiraaaa"
"What?" Akira finally snapped, his eyes flitting from the fight to Fyrea for a moment. He glared at her through slitted yellow eyes.
The Chinese girl stuck out her lower lip. "Nikoji was mean to me"
"She started it," LanLan called from the stands. Fyrea stuck out her tongue in response.
"Nikoji, go...take a time out or something," Akira said dismissivly to appease Fyrea, despite the fact that he could have cared less. If it weren't for the fact that he needed a team to win, he would have kicked them all out long before they'd reached the preliminary rounds.
"Yeah. Go stand in the corner." Fyrea giggled and pulled a marker from a pocket in Akira's vest. She walked up to Nikoji and scribbled "DUNCE" on his forehead. He swatted her away before turning to go back to sleep.
"Is it just me, or does this team not seem to care about its teammates?" asked a woman from beside Akira. She smiled at Fyrea as she sat down next to Nikoji.
Nikoji opened one eye. "Hello, Hotaru," he greeted. She nodded in response to him and turned her attention to the fight.
"What'd I miss?" she asked, crossing her legs. Fyrea made a face.
"Not much. They started the fight, and then poof, the whole thing goes up in smoke," she sighed. "At this rate we'll never see the end of--" her words were cut off as a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder interrupted the fight from inside the ring.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it appears as if it is...raining? Someone check the weather forecast! This isn't supposed to happen!" Koto's panicky voice came from inside the smog. "Think she found the mike?" Hotaru smirked. Akira grimaced.
"Hey, Nikoji, wake up," Fyrea said suddenly, jumping up. "the smoke's clearing. Come on, you lazy-ass fox, get up and see if your teammate's all right!" she grabbed his elbow and started dragging him inside the ring. "Is the fight over yet?" she called into the thinning smoke.
Koto coughed and stumbled away from the smoke to the outside of the ring. "Ladies and gentlemen, I think this fight is over! Toki Ukiya is the winner"
"What!" LanLan shouted. "Kageryu, what happened out there"
"Hey," Fyrea said, looking around. "Where is Kageryu? There's Ukiya, but where's...?" she left her sentence hanging as the smoke finally cleared, revealing only Ukiya in the center of the blackened remains of the ring. Kageryu was nowhere to be seen.
"It appears that Team Fugishima takes their second defeat, as Kageryu has mysteriously vanished from the ring! Team TianLung Feng wins by default"
"That's not fair!" LanLan exploded. "We're short a fighter now! How are we supposed to finish"
Koto covered the mike with her hand before speaking to Team Fugishima. "Listen, I don't care if you're girl's dead and gone, as long as the fights carry on. If the opposing team wins this next match, they've won the round and you'll all be disqualified. if you have some kind of proposal to stay in the fight, then be my guest and say so." she held the mike out to Akira. He glared at Koto with his piercing yellow eyes, but didn't say anything.
"I don't like where this is going," Hotaru breathed to him. "Kageryu was probably one of the higher class demonesses here, and if somebody took her out as simple as that...well let's just say the rest of us won't stand a chance in hell"
Koto raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a statement to make, Fugishima-san?" Akira shook his head. Koto turned, shrugging. She blinked in surprise as the mike suddenly slipped from her hands into the hands of the clever kitsune Nikoji, who had awoken from his nap. He slung his arm over Koto's shoulders and spoke into the mike.
"Now love, what did you say was the matter with this fight? You say Kageryu, the little jaganshi onna, lost the fight? To who? This lady over here?" he waved the mike at Toki. "Look at her. She hasn't even got a scratch on her. You mean to tell me our little Kageryu fought with this slut and didn't even make a mark"
"Could I just have the mike back?" Koto pleaded, trying to escape Nikoji's grasp. She lunged for the microphone. The male kitsune was faster and pulled it out of her reach as she jumped.
Toki's gaze fell onto Nikoji. She gave him one scathing look before returning to her team.
"What's with that?" LanLan demanded. "Give me the mike!" Plants snaked around Nikoji's arm and snatched the mike from his grip. LanLan smiled and stole the microphone. She jumped up into the ring, shouting at Team TianLung Feng, "I know what you're doing, Toki Ukiya! And you will never succeed, so you know WHY"
"LanLan!" Akira shouted from the sidelines. "Don't you dare say that"
A loud bang cut off the Fugishima leader. A long crimson ribbon spurted from LanLan's chest as she fell towards the ground. The crowd screamed in anticipation.
Koto took the opportunity to return the mike safely to her own hands. "As far as I can tell, people, LanLan appears to have been shot! Please wait a few minutes before we get the full details from the board"
"LanLan!" Fyrea gasped, dropping everything else to rush into the ring. She fled to her teammates side, dropping to her knees and grabbing LanLan's wrist for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief as she discovered her friend was still alive. She looked back to Akira, flashing a smile.
On the other side of the ring, demons from the board had suddenly come down to interrogate Team TianLung Feng for any signs of foul play. "Fights are to take place outside of the stadium and inside the ring," one demon stated. "Not from any outside fighters to the inside ring"
"It wasn't us, if that's what you're asking," Shira spit in his face. "Nobody here except Thomas is low enough to do something that retarded. Besides, it didn't come from this side of the ring, it came from over there. And as you can see, my entire team is over here." She indicated her other four members; Maridona, Thomas, Akira and Toki.
"But you do have an alternate fighter?" he asked. Shira looked taken aback.
Toki answered for her. "Yes, youkai, we do have an alternate. But as you can see, he is not present, and if you wish to secure his whereabouts then I suggest you call the hotel at room number 219 and ask for Rihito Mitzuru. There you will find our alternate, and if you need further information then please feel free to ask our team any questions or consult the team application filled out before the preliminary rounds." she said coolly.
"But only four members are present," the demon protested.
"Besides me, yeah," Shira stepped in.
"No-- your fighter, er-- Thomas, the dancing fellow."
Toki turned around in shock to find that Thomas was no longer sitting in the sidelines. Scanning the crowd, she didn't find the redhead there, either. Shira looked in dismay.
"I could have sworn he was here a second ago," Maridona muttered, looking around in bewilderment. "I was just asking him about the masked fighter, and he suddenly just...poofed..."
"People don't poof, Maridona," Akira snorted. "I'm sure Thomas is around here somewhere."
"Until you relocate your team member, your team will accept a loss and go on with the round." the demon smiled.
"No way!" Shira yelled. "We're not gonna take a loss for that asshole! Give us fifteen minutes, and we'll find him!"
"Five minutes." he haggled.
"TEN." she growled. The demon nodded.
"You have ten minutes to find missing team member Thomas Maximillian of Team TianLung feng. Starting now." -----------------
Always, -S-chan-